In the Valley
by Chenamon
Summary: This story follows the life of Octavio Jr and he learns and grows to be a proper Octoling and a proper prince. How will he fare balancing the responsibilities of the Octarian prince and the uncertainty of survival in the domes?
1. Prologue: The Prince is Born

It was a glorious day in Octo Valley. Everyone had been anticipating this day and it was finally here. The King, Octavio and the Queen, Blanca had finally conceived their first child. It was only a few days wait for her to lay the egg and an even more days wait for the egg to hatch. Finally it was the day it was hatching.

"Octavio! Come! It's hatching!" Blanca called excitedly. DJ Octavio was barreling down the hall. He basically knocked down any Octarians in his way.

"Sorry! My baby's hatchin', yo!" he called to them.

"It's OK your majesty! Can't wait to see the new heir!" one called back. Finally he reached the room and slammed the door open.

"Did I miss it?!" he exclaimed loudly.

"No, you're just in time. Come see." He quietly walked over and looked at the egg. The baby was slowly making its way out. The two watched excitedly and quietly. Finally the baby got out of its egg and began squeaking loudly. Blanca picked their new baby up and cradling them in her arms.

"What is it? A girl? Right? Right?!" the DJ asked excitedly. She checked and gasped. "What? What's wrong?!"

"It's a boy..." she whispered.

"What?"

"It's a boy! The sea blessed us with a boy!" she said while bouncing happily. "Do you want to hold him?"

"Wh-what? I dunno. What if I-" She put their baby into his tentacles. He basically melted upon touching him. "I can't believe he's ours. This is our baby. Our prince..." He wiped a tear out of his eye.

"Octavio, are you crying?" she teased.

"No! I got something in my eye!" he retorted, attempting to keep his usual bravado. She just laughed.

"What are we going to name our little prince?" she asked. He almost forgot about names.

"Aw jeez, I dunno..."

"You can do the first name and I'll take the middle name."

"Well, alright... I guess I'll name him... Hum..." he pondered a bit." I guess I'll go with Octavio." She stared as if she wanted to say 'really?' He stared back defensively. "Hey, don't look at me like that! Think about how cool Octavio the Third would sound! We can call him Jr too!" She simply laughed. "What's the middle name?"

She thought for a little bit. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I was thinking of... Barnabas."

"Barnabas...? It's perf, yo! Octavio Barnabas the Third! This kid's gonna do great things. I know it." He raised Jr up in the air and Jr squeaked. They quietly enjoyed their time with their new baby. Eventually it was time to introduce Jr to the people of Octo Valley. They were all anticipating meeting the royal baby. The couple walked out onto the balcony and the Octarians began cheering loudly. DJ raised a tentacle and they settled down. He spoke into the mic.

"Presenting the new prince of the Octarians: Prince Octavio Barnabas the Third!" he exclaimed. Everyone cheered loudly. Jr cried at the sudden noise and Blanca rocked him. She tapped her husband.

"I'm gonna take him inside." she whispered. He nodded. She went back inside.

"Well... That's it. DJ Octavio out." he said while saluting the Octarians and heading back inside to follow his wife. He joined her in Jr's room where she was sitting in the rocking chair feeding him. He pulled up a chair and sat beside her. He watched silently.

"He looks a lot like you..." Blanca said.

"Wha? No. He definitely looks more like you! See, he's got your eyes." Octavio argued, pushing her hair out of her face, revealing her eyes. She looked up at him and smiled. He chuckled slightly.

"I wonder what he'll grow up to be like." she wondered aloud. He shrugged.

"We'll just have to wait and see together." He cuddled up closer to his wife and she cuddled back. They continued gently watching their baby as he quietly suckled the bottle.


	2. Chapter 1: Tragedy Strikes

In the Valley Chapter 1: Tragedy Strikes

A week passed since the prince hatched. The Octarians were working away on the panels in the domes, making sure they were working and secure on the walls. All seemed to be going well, up until a loud crash was heard. DJ Octavio jumped upon hearing it as did Jr. Jr cried and he went to console him. He didn't think much of it since panels and stalactites falling were the norm in Octo Valley. It wasn't until an Octotrooper came running into his room. He was panting hard and looked like he was about to cry.

"Sir! Y-you need to come! Q-quickly!" he exclaimed through much stammering and panting.

"Why? What is it Octobob?" DJ Octavio asked, holding his son.

"It's... It's... It's..." Octobob stammered.

"Out with it!" DJ Octavio demanded.

"It's your wife! Queen Blanca! The stalactites!" Octobob spat out. DJ Octavio's heart began to race.

"Take me to her!"

"B-but sir. The baby."

"Now, Octobob!" Octobob complied and lead DJ Octavio to the scene. There were scattered pieces of the fallen rock, a smashed panel, and just a whole big mess. Octarians were digging through the mess of stuff in an attempt to find the Queen. All sorts of feelings swirled around in the Octoking. He was completely distraught.

"We just had our baby... She can't be dead now... We just had our baby..." he mumbled. Octobob looked at his king, concerned. He tugged on one of DJ Octavio's tentacles.

"Sir, you should go. We'll keep looking for her. Just try to focus on your baby." Octobob said, while still tugging. The King stood there, blankly watching the Octarians move away all the rocks and metal scrap. Finally DJ Octavio looked away from the rubble and made his way back to the castle. He kept reminding himself that he had to keep hope. He sat in Jr's rooming dead silence, awaiting the return of Octobob.

Several hours had passed. They cleared as much of the rubble as they could, but it was endless. There was no sign of Blanca, so they could only assume the worst. Her body was either completely crushed of it had fallen deeper into the Valley. They searched a bit longer, but there was still no sign of her. One of them turned to Octobob. They shook their head. Octobob bit his lip and nodded. He turned to the castle. He dreaded the king's reaction. He made his way to the prince's room where DJ Octavio waited. He knocked on the door. DJ Octavio basically came running.

"Did you find her?!" he asked while swinging the door open. Octobob bit his lip harder. He stood in silence for a bit. "Well?" The trooper sighed sadly.

"Sir... I'm sorry..." Octobob said while trying super hard not to burst into tears. "We couldn't find any trace of your wife... She's... She's..."

"Gone..." DJ Octavio said. Octobob looked up at his king. He looked so heartbroken. They stood there in silence. Finally he spoke up again. "I need to be alone... Octobob, watch my son for me please..." Octobob nodded and DJ Octavio walked by the small Octarian. DJ Octavio locked himself in his room. Octobob sighed sadly and went to watch over the prince. Once DJ Octavio had calmed down a little he came back. Octobob looked up at his king and noticed his eyes were a little puffy; most likely from crying. He didn't question in and listened to what he had to say.

"Prepare my podium... I need to make a formal announcement to everyone. Inform everyone through the PA." DJ Octavio said. He sounded devoid of life. Octobob knew this was no time to put up any argument, so he did as he said. Once the podium was set, he went out to the podium. Octarians were there mumbling amongst themselves, wondering what was going on. He cleared his throat and they quietly down. He was silent for a bit and they anticipated the announcement.

"There's no easy way to say this, but I ain't gonna beat around the bush or nothing. Queen Blanca, my wife, is dead." Several gasps were heard amongst the crowd and they all began chattering loudly and concerned. He raised his tentacle and they stopped. "She passed away earlier today at the hands of falling stalactites and panels. Her body wasn't found." He was starting to get choked up, so he sped up his spiel. "The funeral arrangements will be decided later throughout the- I'm sorry." He left quickly because he was crying again and couldn't bring himself to finish the speech. Octobob went to the podium to speak on his behalf.

"Funeral arrangements will be decided later on. In the meantime, go about your day as normal, please. For the King." They didn't argue and the crowd soon dispersed. It was truly a depressing day in Octo Valley. The panels projected that negativity by having an overcast simulation.

Another week had passed. DJ Octavio lay in his bed, staring at a photo of his wife and him. He sighed and put the photo to lie down. Octobob knocked on the door and let himself in.

"Sir? It's time..." he said quietly. "Please get dressed." He waited for the large Octarian to budge. Finally DJ Octavio rolls over and gets up. He sighed and put on his helmet. Octobob waited patiently. He dragged himself out of his room and Octobob began leading him to the area where the funeral was being held. Octobob was wearing the usual Octarian black boots and a small black tie around his waist. They walked in silence and went through a few kettles until they finally reached the funeral.

Jr was already there in a stroller, where a few Octolings were watching him. It was a sea of black and red. Many Octarians attended, all dressed in their funeral black. They all looked at their king sympathetically as he walked down the aisle. Some had tears in their eyes, some were already crying. The King averted eye contact from everyone he passed. He took his seat and pulled the stroller closer. Jr quietly cooed. He rocked the stroller back and forth. The panels began simulating that of rain and the ceremony began.


	3. Chapter 2: Hopeless or Hopeful?

A week had passed since the funeral. DJ Octavio wasn't coping very well at all. He was barely sleeping, barely eating, and had lashed out at several Octarians. It didn't help much that he had to care for his newborn son and manage the whole kingdom himself. He completely was tired and completely depressed, but he knew he had to keep going for his child.

It was late in the morning and Jr was crying most of it. DJ Octavio had tried rocking him, feeding him, burping him, changing him; he had tried everything he could think of. It was until Jr made an odd noise through his cries. Sort of a gurgling cough, maybe? He didn't want to risk it so he called a pediatrician over. The doctor came shortly.

"Thanks for coming over on such short notice. It's Jr. He's been cryin' like crazy, yo. It's kinda driving me nuts. I don't know what's wrong..." DJ Octavio explained.

"I'll do my best to see what's wrong, your majesty. Don't you worry." the doctor reassured him. The doctor put down his bag and opened it up. He pulled out a stethoscope and began listening to Jr. His breathing sounded congested. The doctor took out a thermometer. He checked Jr's temperature. It was colder than it should be. He finally checked the child's ink. It was somewhat bluish which wasn't a good sign. The doctor took a few more tests, which took a few hours. Finally when all the tests were done, the doctor sighed sadly upon seeing the results.

"So, what's the verdict, doc? He's gonna be OK, right?" DJ Octavio urged.

"Your majesty, I really don't know how to put this..." the doctor began. DJ Octavio's heart dropped. He just list his wife, he couldn't lose his son too.

"There HAS to be something we can do! He can't just- just..." he couldn't finish the sentence. The doctor frowned.

"Your majesty, we all know these kinds of deformities are common for male Octolings... The chances of survival are cut in half especially when both the parents are Octolings. We still can't figure out why it happens or how to cure it. He won't survive even if we try operating on him…" the doctor began. "I can give you some antibiotics and painkillers for him, but you need to be prepared just in case he doesn't make it. All we can do is hope for the best..." He pats the DJ's shoulder. DJ Octavio was dead silent. "I'm so sorry, your majesty..."

He handed DJ Octavio his son, the test results, and the medicine. He left the King to be alone with his son. Jr had stopped crying by now and was softly sleeping. DJ Octavio slumped into the rocking chair. He was in such disbelief. He was distraught. He didn't know what to do.

'My wife... And now my son might...' He looked down at his son. He could hear that he was having a hard time breathing. 'I can't even do anything for him... Our time together is limited... I may as well make it last...' He quietly sat in the room, rocking back and forth in the chair. He was losing hope.

A day had passed. Even though he was giving Jr the medicine as instructed on the container, his condition was worsening. Jr didn't want to eat, his ink was having more blood in it, and he was getting weaker. DJ Octavio had lost a lot of sleep because he was hyper focused on caring for his dying son. Octobob came to check on the DJ. There was garbage on the floor and the dishes were stacked in the sink. Octobob entered the baby's room, which was the only room that was clean. DJ Octavio was sitting in the rocking chair cradling Jr. There were bags under the bags under his eyes. He was half asleep and seemed to be nodding off.

"Sir, you don't look too hot..." Octobob said, while taking Jr and gently placing him into his crib.

"I'm fine... Give him back..." DJ Octavio said groggily.

"Sir, you haven't slept or eaten in a long time. You can't work yourself to death like this." Octobob said.

"Does it even matter? My wife's dead and my only child is dying. I've got nothing to live for and I'ma waste away how I want."

Octobob frowned.

"Sir, I can't let you do that. You need to sleep and eat. I'll make sure the young prince is OK. You need to be healthy or you'll be in no condition to help him. Please sir. Do it for you son." Octobob pleaded. DJ Octavio groaned.

"Fine... Just make sure he's warm and that you give him his meds at 12pm and 6pm..." Octobob smiled.

"Yes, sir. Have a good rest. I'm sure the young prince will be fine." Octobob reassured the King as he left the room. Octobob continued caring for Jr.

Another day has passed. Jr wasn't as cold as he was before and his congestion was basically cleared up. His ink still had blue in it, but he seemed to be recovering. DJ Octavio came to check on him and Octobob was still there caring for him.

"Oh, sir. How are you feeling? Have you slept and eaten, yet?" Octobob asked. DJ Octavio shrugged.

"Sorta, I guess... How's Jr? Is he doing any better?"

"He's not really congested anymore and seems to be at a normal temperature. There's still blood in his ink, but hopefully that'll clear up soon. He's still not eating much, though..." DJ Octavio was quite happy to hear this news.

'He just might make it. Thank the sea...' he thinks to himself. He was starting to feel a bit more optimistic about his son's lifespan. Most Octoling boys didn't make it to the first year. His son would. He could feel it.

A week or so had passed. DJ Octavio had fallen asleep in Jr's room. He was awoken abruptly when Jr let out a loud cry. He checked the child and he appeared to be hungry. He fed him and burped him. Jr appeared to be more alert and was checking out his surroundings. Later when he inked, DJ Octavio checked it. No blood. He didn't want to take any chances so he called the pediatrician again. The doctor arrived shortly, once again.

"Hey, doc. I think Jr's getting better. Could you check him just in case?" the king asked.

"Of course, your majesty." the doctor replied. He ran the same tests as the previous time. The results took a few a hours like the last time, but the doctor nodded upon reading them.

"Well? Well?!" DJ Octavio urged. The doctor smiled at him.

"Your son seems to have fought the defect. He should make a full recovery. Congratulations, your majesty." DJ Octavio cheered loudly. Jr cried because of the sudden loudness. DJ Octavio piped down and picked the baby up.

"Sh, shh. Don't cry. Don't cry. You'll be OK. You're gonna live, Jr!" he said softly to Jr. Jr finally calmed down and the doctor took his leave. DJ Octavio couldn't be happier than this. Things were surely starting to look up.


	4. Chapter 3: Nanny

A few months had passed. Jr had indeed made a full recover. He was squeaking and crying more than ever. He was also trying to squirm, but couldn't really get the hang of it. DJ Octavio was happy his son was better, but things were busier than ever. He needed to oversee what Octarians were doing, but he also needed to care for Jr at the same time. Octobob couldn't be there all the time so he couldn't leave Jr with him either. He needed a nanny.

It was early in the afternoon and he was working on some blueprints while feeding Jr. Jr was pretty fussy and eventually he inked all over the blueprints. DJ Octavio groaned loudly. He put Jr and the bottle down and crumpled up the blueprints. He tossed it in the trash and turned to Jr.

"I really need someone to watch you while I work. I can't have you messing with my blueprints, you know?" he said to Jr picking him up. Jr simply peeped back. He walked out the room with him and an Octosniper was passing by. She was taller than the average sniper and was wearing a Baby Jelly bandana around her neck. DJ Octavio knew her from her excellent sniping and her leadership skills. She was very responsible and often protected lives of the troops. He got an idea.

"Commander Lorelei! Wait! Come here!" he called. She jumped and walked back towards the King.

"Yes, sir?" she asked.

"Today's your lucky day. You're getting a promotion!" he started. Her eyes widened in surprise. She listened intently. "You have been promoted as official caretaker of my son, the prince." She was definitely surprised now.

"Sir, with all due respect, you can't possibly expect me, some high-ranking sniper, to care for your infant son! I've never cared for a child before!" she said, somewhat panicked.

"No time better than the present!" he said, while handing Jr to her.

"Sir, isn't there anyone else who could do this?"

"No one else as smart, trustworthy, and responsible as you. I'm counting on you, Lorelei. Good luck!" And just like that he left. She stood there dumbfounded while still holding Jr. She let out an exasperated sigh.

"I cannot believe this guy... Well, at least he's not crying." Jr began whimpering. "Oh nononono. Don't cry. It's OK." She gently rocked him and he calmed down a little. She also relaxed. "I guess this isn't too bad... I better find his room." she thought aloud, while making her way down the hall. Eventually she found his room and she took a seat in the rocking chair. She managed to lull him to sleep. She carefully placed him in his crib and let out a soft sigh.

Octobob had just finished his shift and he came to check on Jr. He peeked into hid room and was quite surprised to see the tall Octarian looking over the child. He knew by the bandana who she was.

"C-commander Lorelei?" he began meekly. She turned around and looked down at him.

"Oh, hi Octobob."

"Why are you in the prince's room?"

"His father promoted me to 'official caretaker', so here I am." she said while waving her tentacle sarcastically.

"But, you're just a high-ranking sniper... How does he expect you to raise a child?"

"That's what I said! But he didn't listen... I'm not sure if I can do it. This is the prince's life we're talking about. If anything happens to him, it'll be my head..." she said, while frowning. Octobob could definitely feel that she was worried about this. He got an idea.

"Commander Lorelei?"

"Please, just call me Lorelei."

"Oh. Um. OK... Lorelei? If it makes you feel better, I could help you out with taking care of the prince. I mean I do already have some experience with him and with caring for children in general..." Her face immediately lightens up.

"You would really do that for me?" He blushed a little and averted eye contact.

"Well... Yeah, of course... So?" She pulled him into a hug, which basically lifted him off the ground.

"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She put him back down and his face was flushed with purple. She laughed a little at his surprised expression and also blushed a little. "Let's do our best to raise Jr. OK?"

He snapped out of his trance and looked up at her. She was holding out her tentacle. He put his in hers and they shook it.

"OK." And with that, the partnership was made. Hopefully Octobob and Lorelei would make a good team in raising Jr.


	5. Chapter 4: Fifth Birthday

Jr was up early on this Saturday morning. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, then rolling over to look at his calendar. He gasped excitedly and leapt out bed, still entangled in his blankets. He squirmed out of his cloth cocoon, leaving a trail of blankets hanging off his bed. He dashed out his room and down the hall. He ran around and through the many legs he passed. Many of the people greeted him, but he had no time for them. He skidded to a stop when he reached his destination. He sprinted into the room and jumped on the bed.

"MOMMY! WAKE UP! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" he squealed loudly as he landed on the bed. Lorelei jolted awake and groaned. She reached over to her dresser and dragged the glasses off of it and onto her face. She turned to face the small Octoling.

"Jr, baby... I know you're excited and all for your special day, but it's five in the morning. Little Octarians need their rest." she explained groggily.

"But, mom... I'm FIVE now. I'm not THAT little anymore. I'm maturer now." Jr stood on her bed and puffed out his chest proudly. She couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright Mr. Mature. I'll get up."

"Yay!" He hopped off the bed and excitedly watched his caregiver get up. She sat on the bed with her feet dangling off and then stepped into her boots. She headed to the bathroom and Jr closely followed. The two headed in and she turned on the tap for the tub. She began giving him his bath. During that bath he was silently pondering.

"Mom?" Jr asked.

"Yes, baby?" Lorelei replied.

"Um... There's not gonna be a lot of people like the last party, right?"

"Nope. Just you, me, your father, and Octobob." His face lit up a little, but he still continued twiddling the tips of his hands nervously.

"Promise?"

"I promise." She patted his head and then pulled him out of the tub. She wrapped him in a towel and patted his back. "Go get dressed and go to the kitchen. Mom's gotta shower, OK?" He nods and heads off. As he trots off she closes the door to shower. He gets to his room and pulls on his shorts and shoes. He then makes his way to the kitchen and scrambles onto his chair and waited. Many Octarians passed by and politely greeted him. He would shyly bow and greet them back. Minutes passed and Lorelei arrived, with Octobob closely following. His face immediately lit up.

"Hi mom and Octobob!" Jr exclaimed standing on his chair.

"Hi sweetheart." Lorelei said while giving him a smooch on the head and gently pushing him down to sit.

"Hello, your highness." Octobob said meekly.

"What's for breakfast?" Jr asked, bouncing in his seat.

"Well, let's see what we have." Lorelei said while opening their fridge. There were a few eggs, a little bit of ham, and half a mug of juice. It wouldn't be nearly enough food for the three of them. The two Octarians exchanged looks and silently mumbled.

"We're gonna need to restock on food..." Octobob whispered.

"I know... I hope the food domes are fixed soon. I don't know how much longer I can stand this. It's basically a famine!" she replied.

"Mommy?" Jr called.

"Let's just focus on feeding Jr. We can eat later." She turned her attention back to the little Octoling." How does eggs and ham sound? Yummy right?" He grinned and nodded. "Mom's gonna start on it and Octobob's gonna go run some errands. Sit tight, OK?"

"Kay." He stopped bouncing in his seat and began swinging his feet impatiently. Octobob went off to check if there would be any improvement on the food domes so he could restock groceries. Lorelei made Jr breakfast and talked with him. Once he was fed, the young headed outside the palace for a bit of fresh air. Jr closely clung to Lorelei and a gentle breeze drifted through the dome. They were silently enjoying the day until some familiar footsteps were heard. Jr whipped around.

"Dad!" he exclaimed running over to the large Octarian. He was reaching up to be picked up and the bigger Octarian finally complied.

"Hey, Jr. How's it going?" DJ Octavio asked.

"Good! It's my birthday and I'm FIVE now! You know that dad?"

"Of course! And we're gonna have a special day today. Me, you, and all the kin-"

"Kinds of people you like, sweetheart!" Lorelei interrupted. DJ Octavio stared at her. She took Jr from the king's grasp and put him on the ground. "Go play in your room, honey. Me and your father have to start the party preparation."

"'Kay." Jr said while happily running off. The two watched as the little Octoling ran off and once he was out of hearing distance they whipped to face each other.

"What's your deal? Cutting me off like that?" DJ Octavio huffed.

"You were about to say Kingdom, weren't you?" she huffed back.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"He didn't want a huge, over-the-top party, you know? Oh, but you wouldn't, 'cause you barely spend time with him!"

"Hey, you can't talk to me like that! I'm your king!"

"Ugh, it doesn't matter. You're not throwing him a huge party. I promised him that it would be him, me, you and Octobob. Don't you remember last year's party?" He was silent. "Jr cried so much because of all the attention, noise, and people. He hid under the table for most of it. Do you want him to be miserable?" He was silently averting eye contact now. "Well?"

"Ugh, no..." he grumbled. "This kid's breaking tradition..."

"His comfort and happiness are more important than tradition. Let's get started on the preparations."

"Whatever..." The two of them made their way back into the palace. They blew up a few balloons and hung a few streamers. Octobob returned shortly after they started and was heavily panting.

"Did you get groceries and the thing?" Lorelei asked. He nodded as he was still heaving heavily. He took a little breather and finally spoke up.

"The food domes are back up and running smoothly now, so we don't need to worry about food shortages." he explained.

"Thank cod. I can't wait to start eating more again." she sighed.

"I'll get started on the cake." he said. She nodded at him as she continued hanging stuff up. He pulled the groceries out the bags and placed them into the fridge and cabinets. He put the cake ingredients on the counter and got all his utensils. He put on a little apron and got started. It was a bit tough to do mixing and all that with considering he only had his one tentacle. He did the best he could, though. Eventually Lorelei joined him and began helping. Once everything was all mixed together and it was time to bake.

"Where are the pans?" Lorelei asked.

"I... I don't know..." Octobob replied. Lorelei slapped her forehead and sighed deeply. The two began looking through all the cabinets and drawers they could. They found no cake pans except for one.

"We only have this one?" she asked, disappointedly.

"Unfortunately... I really wanted to make a full cake for his highness... "

"Oh well. I'm sure he'll like cupcakes." She picked up the bowl with the batter and Octobob grabbed some cupcake cups. He put them in the pan's cups and Lorelei poured in the red batter. Once all the batter was done, they out the small cakes into the oven. Octobob set the timer and Lorelei started on the icing. The timer eventually went off and they pulled the cakes out the oven. They cooled and then the two of them iced them. They sprinkled sprinkles on top of the icing and placed all the little cakes on a platter. They stood back to admire their work.

"You know... I think we did a solid job for our first time throwing a little party. Do you think the little guy will like it?" Lorelei asked leaning back against the counter.

"I sure hope so. Oh! Did you get him a present?" Octobob asked. She grinned and nodded.

"I'm sure he'll love it. Let's get this party started. Go get the King." He nodded and ran off. She headed to Jr's room. He was napping on the floor. She sighed and gently tapped.

"Jr. Baby, it's time to wake up." she said, gently. He stirred and yawned while slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Did I miss the party, mom?" he asked sleepily. She chuckled.

"No, sweetheart. We wouldn't celebrate your big day without you. Now come on." He clung onto her tentacle and she led him to the room where they were holding the little party. It was dark in the room and Jr immediately clung to her leg. They waited a little and Lorelei flicked the lights on. DJ Octavio and Octobob set off some party blowers and cheered loudly.

"Surprise!" Jr jumped and clung harder to his mom's leg, but upon seeing the streamers and balloons hanging around, he let go to look around.

"Wow..." he whispered. Lorelei giggled at that.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." she said once again. She picked him up and gave him a kiss on the forehead. He simply laughed. DJ Octavio reached over and Jr went into his arms.

"Happy birthday, Jr. You made it through another year and you're closer to being a full Octoling. I'm proud of you." DJ Octavio said, somewhat proudly. He ruffled Jr's hair and Jr squirmed. He placed him down and he ran over to Octobob.

"Um, happy birthday, your highness. I hope you'll stay healthy and happy for years to come." He gives Jr a hug and Jr tightly hugs back. After the hug, he turns to Lorelei.

"Now what, mommy?" he asked.

"How about... Um... OH! A game!" she suggested.

"Oh! Oh! I like those." he peeped excitedly. He plopped down in front of her and waited for her explanation. She had prepared a little game for him. It was called Pin the Whiskers on the Zapfish. She demonstrated how to do it and then the four of them played for half an hour. Eventually DJ Octavio had a call and had to go.

"I have to go..." he started. Jr looked a bit disappointed. Octobob frowned at the King, while Lorelei straight up glared.

"Can it not wait, your majesty?" she asked.

"Nah, it's super important. I really gotta go. Sorry, kiddo. I can at least give you your present." DJ Octavio pulled a box from under his own helmet and placed it front of Jr. Jr's face light up upon seeing a present.

"What is it? Huh, dad?"

"Open it up and find out." Jr finally got through the wrapping and struggled to pull out the gift.

"Ugh, it's heavy. What is it?" Jr asked. It was a helmet that was too big for Jr to wear right now.

"It's a bit big right now... It's helmet like your old man's. When you're bossing people around, you're gonna wanna look cool doing it." Jr tipped his head and crossed his arms while staring and the helmet. DJ Octavio's pager peeped. "Uh, you'll grow into it. Anyways, happy birthday, hope the rest of your birthday is rad. Bye!" DJ Octavio hurried out the door. Lorelei huffed angrily and Octobob and Jr sighed sadly. The sniper shook off her irritation and turned her attention back the birthday boy.

"Hey, we can still have fun! Just the three of us! You wanna eat some cake?" she asked happily.

"Cake? What's cake?" Jr asked while running up to her.

"Go sit at the table and me and Octobob will go get it." Jr giggled excitedly and ran over to his chair. They went into the kitchen and pulled a candle in the shape of 5 out of a drawer. They carefully stuck the candle into the icing of one of the cupcakes. Lorelei lit the candle and picked up the tray. As they entered the room where Jr was waiting, they began singing happy birthday. Jr's face brightened and his eyes sparkled upon seeing the lit candles. She placed the platter in front of him and he stared wide-eyed. He stared for a few seconds before looking up at his mom.

"What do I do with it, mommy?" Jr asked. She giggled.

"You gotta blow out the candle and make a wish. You can't tell anyone or it won't come true, OK?"

"'Kay." Jr silently thought to himself. Once he had his wish, he clapped his hands together, shut his eyes tight, and mumbled his wish. He blew out the candles and his caregivers cheered. Lorelei pulled out the candles and pushed the platter closet to him.

"Now you can eat one. You have to pull off the paper, though. Octobob did most of the work making them." she explained. He stared at her surprised, but did as she said. Jr pulled off the paper cup and bit into the cake. They anticipated his reaction.

"Mom... Octobob...?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, baby?"

"Y-yes, your highness?" He sat in silence before speaking up.

"Can I eat this every day? It's so yummy." Lorelei and Octobob laughed.

"It wouldn't be special if you had it all the time, would it?" she asked.

"I guess... Oh, you and Octobob are gonna eat some too, right?" he asked. Before they could even answer he handed them each a cupcake. They complied and ate the cakes. They were indeed good and the two grinned at their job well done.

Once they had their fill of cake and played a few more games, it was time for the final present, then bed.

"OK, Jr. One more thing and it's time for bed." Lorelei said. "It's a present from me." She placed a box tied with a ribbon in front on him. "Go on, open it."

He pulled the ribbon loose and took the top of the box off. There was some purple tissue paper and he pulled it out, revealing a plush toy. He stared curiously and pulled out the toy.

"Mommy, what is it?"

"It's a plush octopus."

"Is... Is it mine?"

"Of course, sweetheart." He gasped loudly.

"I can really keep it? Really really?"

"Yes, baby!" she laughed. He cheered loudly and hugged her.

"Thank you so much, mommy! I love it!"

"It's no problem, sweetie. Time for bed now. Little princes need their rest. You can sleep with your new toy. "

"I'm not that little, mom. I'm maturer, remember?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, my 'maturer' prince. You still need to sleep, though. Let's go brush those teeth." She patted his back and they headed to the bathroom, while Octobob took his plush to his bedroom. Once his teeth were all brushed, they made their way to his room. He climbed into bed and snuggled up to his new octo friend. They tucked him in and he was basically set to sleep.

"Night, Jr." Lorelei said gently.

"Sweet dreams, your highness." Octobob chimed in softly.

"Night, mommy... Night Octobob..." Jr replied slowly beginning drifting into sleep. They were leaving, but he spoke once more." Thanks for the best birthday ever..." He finally fell asleep and Lorelei quietly closed the door behind them. She turned to Octobob.

"We did a great job today, didn't we?" she grinned.

"Heh, I guess we did. It was very thoughtful of you to get him that plush toy. He really seems to like it." Octobob said.

"Well, you did an awesome job with the cake! I never could've baked it any better myself." She patted him hard on the back. He stumbled a little, but he caught himself. "Well, we should also get some shut eye. Another day of work tomorrow, you know?"

"Oh, um, right. Well... Good night Lorelei. See you tomorrow."

"Night, Octobob. Have a good sleep." The two smiled at each other before finally parting ways. It was another successful day of caring for Jr.


	6. Chapter 5: Agent Inkling Invasion

There had been several casualties throughout the past few weeks. Octarian soldiers were getting beaten here and there. Octobob came running into his king's office with reports.

"Your majesty! I-it's worse than I feared! The cause of all the casualties, I mean!" the little Octarian exclaimed.

"Well, what is it causing all this?!" DJ Octavio demanded. Octobob put photos onto his desk. He picked them up and scanned them quickly.

"Inklings have begun infiltrating, your majesty..." DJ Octavio slammed the photos onto the desk, startling the Octotrooper.

"Damn it! They have Inkopolis! What could they possibly want from down here?!" he complained loudly.

"I don't really know, sir. But we do need your orders on what to do if we spot them again..." The King sighed and tried to calm down a little.

"If anyone spots them again, kill them on spot. We can't have Inklings running amok here. We have enough to deal with as is. Go report that to the others."

"Yes sir." Octobob turned to leave.

"Oh, and tell anyone who spots them to send me their locations so I can intercom with them."

"Yes sir." Finally Octobob goes off. Once the king's orders spread amongst the soldiers, they went back to guarding their posts.

Since Jr was five now, he was old enough to start his Octoling training. He wasn't anticipating it and had never been with anyone other than Lorelei, Octobob, and his dad. Since Lorelei had no experience training an Octoling, she had gotten her friend Josie to assist her.

Lorelei led Jr to where Josie said to meet her. He clung closely and apprehensively as they approached the area. Finally she spotted her friend and the two waved at each other.

"Yo, Lorelei! How've you been?" Josie greeted her cheerfully.

"Good! Good! You look great!" Lorelei grinned widely.

"Oh, you know. The usual Octoling workout!" The two of them laughed. Josie turned her attention to the little Octoling shyly peaking from behind Lorelei.

"And you must be the prince! How ya doing, kiddo?" She crouched down to his level and he hid even more behind his mom.

"Oh, he's a little shy. It's his first time away from me..." she smiled sheepishly. She turned to Jr. "It's time to go now, Jr... I'll be back from my sniping shift to pick you up, OK?"

Jr looked up at her and sniffed. Before she could react he was already bawling and crying big crocodile tears. Seeing this, she held back her own tears, and tried to stay positive.

"Baby, don't cry. You'll be just fine." She patted his head.

"You're still mom's mature little guy, aren't you?" He stopped bawling and nodded, still with tears rolling down his cheeks. "That's a good boy... You'll learn a lot and become a strong little Octoling prince, right?" He nodded again and she wiped the tears off his face. "Atta boy. Now go with Auntie Josie and behave, OK?" He nodded once more. He quietly went with Josie. She could tell her friend was a bit heartbroken to see her kid like this. She leaned over and whispered to Lorelei.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of him. He'll have a kid around his age there too, so he won't be completely lonely." she winked a Lorelei and Lorelei smiled.

"Thanks so much for doing this for me. It means a lot."

"Don't worry about it. Now you head onto your sniping business. Good luck!" And with that, they parted paths. Lorelei was going to be going between sniping and taking care of Jr, while Jr was going to be between Octoling training and being with his mom.

Weeks had passed. Jr was well into his training. Lorelei was back into sniping. And Octarians were still getting beaten by the infiltrators. DJ Octavio was not happy about this.

"OCTOBOB!" the King bellowed. The Octotrooper scurried into the room.

"Y-yes sir?" he asked meekly.

"Why haven't those Inklings been caught? There are only three of them! How had could it possibly be?!"

"Everyone's the trying their best, sir. But, they're just so elusive... And clever... And not to mention a bit scary..."

"Ugh, I don't want excuses. I want results! What if they got into the living domes? Those slimy Inklings can't tell armed from unarmed Octarians! They'd most likely kill our people on spot! And we can't let any other people die!" DJ Octavio massages his temples and sighs deeply. "I'm sorry for yelling... Just continue doing your best. Make sure that others make the living domes secure so the cretins DON'T get into them. Got it?"

"Yes, your majesty. I'll inform them right away." Octobob bows and runs off. He reports the king's orders to one of the higher-ups and the info soon spreads throughout the domes. The living domes were secured and Octarians soldiers were on an even higher alert.

Elsewhere, Lorelei was with Josie and Jr.

"I'm real sorry, Lorelei, but I'm on duty today. I can't train him, so he'll have to stick around with you. The hubby's too unwillingly to take on another kid, let alone the king's son. It's too big a responsibility for us."

"Aww man... I can't leave him with Octobob since the he always running errands for our king. Can't leave him with his father either, since he's always oh so busy. It's so risky to bring him sniping with me... "

"I wouldn't worry too much. It's not like you get too much action, y'know?"

"Hm... I guess... It IS mostly just sitting and waiting for nothing to happen... I guess it won't hurt. Thanks anyways Josie."

"No prob. Good luck, you two!" Josie called turning to leave. Jr waved and Lorelei began leading him off to her post.

"You're going to hang out with mom while she snipes, OK?" she explained gently.

"Kay... Can I bring my Octo?" he asked while kicking some rocks.

"Of course! Let's go get your Octo, then off to sniping." They quickly headed back to the palace and grabbed his octopus plush. They then began making their way to her post. They had to travel through kettles. She had to show Jr how to access his octopus form. It was a bit hard for him, but he managed. Finally they reached her post. Some other snipers waved to her and she waved back. She turned her attention back to her child.

"Jr, you need to stay close to mom OK? It probably won't get dangerous, but I need to be sure you're safe. Understand?" she said solemnly. He understood she was serious and did as she said. He climbed onto an open spot in her chair and held his Octo tightly. It was gonna be a long and boring day for sure.

Hours had passed and nothing had happened. No action. Jr had eaten all his snacks and was starting to nod. An Inkling finally made it into this dome in particular. None of the snipers spotted them yet. Jr nodded again and his Octo plush dropped and rolled off a little. This basically woke him up and he said out of the seat to go get it. The Inkling splatted one of the other snipers. Lorelei heard that noise and her heart skipped a beat. The Inkling was using a charger and she saw the line aiming for the back of Jr's head. He got his plush and the Inkling pulled the trigger. Before Jr could even react, Lorelei jumped in front of him, slightly bumping him down. She yelped as the ink impacted her and splattered everywhere. The splatters flew off everywhere and some hit his hand and cheek. He winced and whimpered upon feeling the sting. He looked down at his tentacle and the skin wasn't reforming. He looked back at his mom and quietly sniveled.

"M-mommy?" She turned her attention back to him.

"Baby, don't worry. We'll be OK." she reassured him. He looked at her waist and leg, which were both dripping purplish-bluish colour. It wasn't reforming in that area. Jr was staring, in shock at that area.

"Mommy, your body's melting... Are you OK?" he asked shakily. His eyes were welling up with tears.

"Shh. It's OK. I'm fine. Don't worry." she replied in a panicked tone. She was starting to get scared. Once again, the line was aimed at them. "Stay close, baby. OK? You'll be OK." She pulled him closer and braced for the worst. A bomb whirred by and the line moved away from them. The Inkling lost focus due to avoiding the bomb. Several Octobombers began going after the Inkling and they fled. Lorelei let out a sigh of relief and stroked the child's head. He was shivering like mad. He sobbed softly and she continued stroking him in an attempt to console him.

An Octostriker flew in to help.

"Commander Lorelei, you're injured! We've gotta take ya back to base ASAP. Can ya stand?" they asked. Lorelei shook her head. "That's alright. Lemme carry ya to my UFO. That's fine, right? We can patch ya up on the way back."

"Thank you... Just make sure he's fine first." she said, revealing Jr.

"His highness?!" they exclaimed. They studied the little Octoling and saw the non-reformed parts. "Oh, man... The King ain't gonna be happy with this..." Lorelei handed Jr to the large Octarian. They put Jr to sit on the UFO. They helped Lorelei on and they were off. An Octoling riding on the ship cleaned and patched up the wounds of the two Octarians. Jr sat silently through the ride. He finally spoke up.

"Mom, why was that strange Octoling attacking us?" She tensed up and remained silent. "And why was their ink a different colour? And why did if feel bad and leave holes on us?"

She bit her lip. DJ Octavio had previously instructed her not to bring up Inklings or any of the negative parts of the Valley to Jr. She couldn't lie to him now that he had experienced that. She sighed.

"Jr, sweetheart... That thing that attacked us... Well, it wasn't an Octoling." Hearing this piqued his interest and he turned to stare at her. She sighed once again and continued. "That's was an Inkling. They're a creature kind of like an Octoling, but very different at the same time... While we cannot change our ink colour, they can. They're very dangerous to us because their different coloured ink can hurt us... It can make it hard for our skin to reform or worse..."

Jr stared solemnly at her as she looked off into the horizon. "Why are they attacking us? Can't we just talk it out?" he asked. She couldn't help, but smile.

"Oh, Jr... My sweet, Jr..." she pets him and gave him a peck on the forehead. "I wish it where that simple..." The nurse Octoling came to report to them. She bowed before speaking.

"We've arrived at the castle. DJ Octavio is waiting for you two." Jr excitedly ran off. Lorelei took a deep breath. "I hope things work out, commander..." Lorelei smiled appreciatively. The Striker came and helped her off the ship. DJ Octavio was holding Jr and put him down upon seeing Lorelei.

"Jr, go to your room and play." he said, seriously. Jr stated up at his dad and then his mom. She nodded at him and he went off. As soon as he left, the king's face darkened. "Bring her to my office." he said harshly. He arms were crossed and he stomped off to his room. He was livid. The Striker looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm so sorry..." Lorelei patted them.

"I'll be fine." The two headed off to the king's office. The Striker gently put Lorelei to sit on a chair. They bowed to DJ Octavio, before excusing themselves. They closed the door behind them. There was a long silence until he finally spoke.

"Commander Lorelei, you do realize what happened correct?" he asked. His voice was quiet and he pronunciated the t's in his sentence.

"Yes, your majesty..."

Calm before the storm.

"He could've died, you know?! Young Octarians don't ever live after getting shot! You KNOW this. And yet?!" he yelled angrily.

"I couldn't leave him with anyone else, King Octavio! I couldn't just leave him alone in his room or with some stranger!" she yelled back.

"At least those ways, he wouldn't have gotten hurt! If you hadn't have been there, then what?! And did he see them?!"

"See who?"

"The damn Inkling, Lorelei?! Did he see them?!"

"No? Y-yes?! I... I don't know!"

"You better not have told him anything! He can't know! It'd spoil his innocence!" he yelled once again, before going silent. Jr could hear the yelling from his room, so he'd go investigate. "You know your screw up won't go without punishment, correct?"

"... Yes..." she said defeated. She closed her eyes and braced for the worst. Jr poked his head in right when his dad mentioned punishment. He ran out in front of Lorelei.

"Dad, you can't punish her!" Lorelei opened her eyes, surprised and DJ Octavio stared in both anger and disbelief.

"I thought I told you to go play!"

"Dad, it's my fault I got hurt! Lorelei saved me and I only got hit with a little bit of the Inkling's ink! Please don't be mad her! Punish me instead!" Jr was standing both protectively and pleadingly in front of his mom. He showed no signs of budging. DJ Octavio was still so mad at her, but sighed.

"I won't punish her, Jr..."

"Promise?" He stood silently. "Dad, do you promise?"

"I promise." Jr lowered his defenses. He hugged his mom, followed by his dad.

"No more yelling, OK?" They both nodded. Jr left content and DJ Octavio turned his attention back to the sniper.

"You're lucky the kid loves you. I'll let you off with one rank lower and a 30% pay cut for 6 months." he said begrudgingly. "You'll get time to recover, but you're on sewer duty as an addition to your punishment."

She frowned, but don't bother arguing back. It's better than any other punishment he could've given her, so no use complaining. He called someone to help her to her room. She could now take this time to recover. Once she got to her room she flopped onto the bed. She sighed deeply. Some footsteps were heard and an Octotrooper ran into her room.

"Lorelei! I heard you got hurt! I was just with Jr and he told me what happened! Are you OK?" Octobob yelped.

"Octobob, I'll be fine. I've been shot and splattered before. I'll get through this the same." she grinned.

"You aren't in much pain, are you?"

"Nah. Nothing I can't handle."

"O-oh. Good... I was just a bit... worried..." he said quietly. Octobob and Lorelei blushed a little when their eyes met. He averted eye contact and turned purpler. "W-well, I should leave you to rest. Get well, soon..."

"Thank you, Octobob." she smiled. They stared at each other a little longer until he waved and left. With Lorelei injured and Jr's new knowledge on Inklings, things would surely get more interesting.


	7. Chapter 6: What are Inklings?

A few weeks had passed since the Inkling incident. Lorelei was still healing up and Jr had made a full recovery. Even though that experience had scared Jr, it also piqued his interest in Inklings. He was hassling all his parents about them. DJ Octavio wasn't too happy about this.

"Dad, where do Inklings live?" Jr asked as he followed his dad down the hall.

"They don't live in Octo Valley. I'll give ya that." he replied briefly.

"Then where DO they live? There are places other than Octo Valley?"

The king sighed.

"Hey, wouldn't you prefer hearing about Octarians history? It's totes sick."

"I wanna know more about Inklings! History's boring!"

Lorelei was going by.

"Lorelei, take your child." DJ Octavio groaned. She rolled her eyes and patted Jr's back.

"Come on, sweetheart. Let's go get a snack." she suggested. He couldn't argue with that, so he went with her. He began asking her questions.

"Mommy, where do Inklings live? Dad said they don't live in Octo Valley." She knew she wasn't supposed to tell Jr about this stuff, but he'd find out sooner or later.

"Well, Jr... Octo Valley is underground and that's where Octarians live. Inklings live above ground in a place called Inkopolis." she began explaining while preparing his snack.

"Inkopolis?"

"That's right. It's an amazing city with tons of electricity, food, and tons of other stuff. They have these power sources called Zapfish that power their city. They also have a ginormous Zapfish that has a lot of electric power. It could probably power all of Octo Valley for hundreds of years." Jr silently listened in awe. He began thinking of his next questions.

"Mommy, what does above ground look like? Have you ever gone there?"

"Unfortunately, I have no idea. I've never gone to the surface, but I heard it's beautiful. There's no panels. It's just the sky up there."

"What's a sky?"

"Not A sky. THE sky. It's like a giant panel you can never touch. It changes colours like blue during the day and black during the night. There's a big ball of light called the sun. I heard it feels warm under it. There are also these things called stars and you can only see them at night. They're supposed to be millions of them up in the sky. They're like a bunch of lights floating in the sky." Jr sat there thoughtfully, which softly crunching his apple slices.

"Mom, I wanna meet the sky and the sun and the stars. Can I go see them? Pretty please?" She smiled slightly and shook her head.

"Sorry, sweetheart... Not even I can go to the surface. Not without your dad's or a higher-up's permission." He frowned. "I know you wanna go now... But I really can't take you... Don't be disappointed, your dad's working very hard on a way to get us all to the surface." His face lightened. She pet his head and gave him a peck. "Our time will come, Jr."

After his snack she took him out for some fresh air, if you could even call it that. They went to a nearby library, so they could pick up some books on Inklings. Once they got their hands on enough books to occupy him for a while, they made their way back home. Jr was basically glued to them, so she left him be in his room to go do other things. DJ Octavio eventually called her into his office so she unwillingly went.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"Yo. Um, is Jr still asking about Inklings?" he asked while twiddling his tentacles.

"He's been very curious about them. I'm humouring him by telling him what I know and letting him read up." she replied. He simply sighed. "I know you would've liked for him to be in the dark about them later, but it can't really helped. He would've found out sooner or later. He knew about the Inkling attacks even before our incident happened. He's smart and catches onto everything..." He's still silent. "Don't be too upset your majesty. Jr will be just fine. He can handle hearing about bad news better than you think."

"I trust your judgement, Lorelei. I just can't help but worry he'll get overwhelmed or scared by all this awful junk happening. I just want him to be safe and feel safe... Y'know...?" She nods reassuringly. "Anyway, that's all I called you for... You can carry on with whatever you were doing." She bowed and left.

Jr had read through a few of the books. What he got from most of them was that Inklings were aggressive, vain, and cunning. They had two more tentacles than Octolings. They beat Octarians in a war from over a 100 years ago, which is why they're in the Valley now. The main point he got was that they couldn't be reasoned with and were cold-blooded monsters. He thought about that long and hard, but he couldn't wrap his head around it.

'They couldn't possibly be monsters, could they? They're so much like us...' he thought silently to himself. Lorelei came to get him for dinner.

"Dinner time, Jr!" she called.

"Coming!" he called back. He ran off to the dining room to meet her. He climbed into his chair and waited. Once she got him his food she sat down and began eating with him. He still had many questions, so he started up again.

"Mom, are Inklings really cold-blooded monsters?"

"I'm not sure, baby... From what I've seen and heard, they are..."

"Well, why do they hate us? We didn't do anything wrong, did we?"

"Well, a very long time ago, Inklings and Octarians were friends." she began explaining. "But due to rising sea levels, they began to fight which caused a war."

"What's a war, mommy?"

"A war is when 2 or more groups of people fight. It usually doesn't end well for anyone." He nodded and she continued her story. "Anyways, initially we won the war using our great Octoweapons, but they beat us by unplugging them. We were banished underground and here we are today." She stared at him sheepishly, and he stared back pensively.

"That's not a very good ending... Can't we try talking to them now? Maybe they'll let us go up and live with them?" he said, excitedly. She smiled gently and rubbed his head.

"Oh, baby... I wish it were that simple... But the Inklings still have very prejudiced views against us. They wouldn't like it if we went up there... Sometimes you just have to accept the way things are..." Jr slumped into his seat. "Oh, I know, baby. I know... I'm sure one day we'll get to the surface. Maybe you'll even be the one to lead us." His face lightened.

"You think so, mommy?" She smiled and nodded. He cheered. "Then, I'll be the best prince ever and get us to the surface!"

"Atta boy."

They both had finished dinner and went off to do their own things. Jr continued reading about Inklings, while Lorelei went to nap since she was still recovering. Jr couldn't get the thought of the sky and everything his mom had told him. He had to see it. He crept out of his room and soon out of the palace. He had gotten used to using kettles so he used that to head over to one of the troop's kettles.

He made their way into the base and into a commander's room. The commander was giving the Octoling soldiers her spiel, so he got by easily. He looked around the room and it had all kinds of war memorabilia. He climbed into a chair by a desk and a paper was rolled up. He unrolled it, revealing a map of all the kettles. It was overwhelmingly large. He drew his finger across the map, making a path from where they were to the surface. He did his best to memorize the numbers and letters of the kettles and then headed to the door. He was greeted by the commander who just finished her speech.

She was a bit startled to see him here.

"Y-your highness?! What brings you here?" she asked. He remained silent as he didn't want to get into trouble. "Ah, I guess you're just lost... Here, I'll take you back to the palace." She was about to hold his hand, but Jr moved away. "Uh, right... Just follow me then..." She began leading the way and he followed. Octolings peeked out of their rooms to get a chance to see him. They whispered and giggled amongst themselves.

"HEAD TO BED. WE'VE GOT AN EARLY DAY TOMORROW." she bellowed. Doors soon shut. "Apologies, your highness. Let's keep going." He continued silently following until they reached his home kettle. Upon seeing him and the commander exit the kettle Lorelei was relieved. She came running over.

"Oh, thank Cod he's OK! Thank you for finding him, Commander Ima. Where was he?" Lorelei asked ad she scooped Jr up.

"He ended up at one of our bases. I'm not sure how, but he was in my room when I found him... "

"I have no idea what he could've been doing there... Either way, I'm sorry for the trouble he may have caused you, Commander Ima."

"Oh, don't you worry Commander Lorelei. Get well soon, you hear?"

"Thank you! And will do!" Ima went off on her way and she put Jr down in front of her. He was averting eye contact.

"Jr? Why did you run off?" she asked him sternly. He remains silent and continues averting eye contact. "Jr. Look at me." He finally turns to face her, twiddling his tentacles. "Why did you run off?"

"I... I wanted to see the sky..." he answered meekly. She sighed and patted his head.

"I know you really want to, but you can't Jr. It'll be dangerous up there. Your dad, Octobob, and I would be so upset if something happened to you, you know?"

"I know..." He held her tentacle.

"We'll get to see it one day. Don't you worry, baby." she smiled. He smiled back. She scooped him up and took him up to his room. She read him a story and tucked him in. "Night, sweetheart." she said gently.

"Night, mom..." he whispered back. She soon exited his room and he pretended to sleep. As soon as the door closed and the footsteps leaving were heard, he shot up.

"I wanna see the sky tonight."

He waited a little while before leaving and he snuck out once again. This time he followed the path he was making mentally in the office earlier. Being as stealthy and quick as he could, he actually made it to the surface. He looked up at the night sky.

"Wow..." he murmured awestruck. He knew the night sky would be pretty, but he never expected it to be THAT pretty. There were more stars than he could count. The moon was full and gorgeous. He was feeling super elated by this sight. That was short lived when a voice called out to him.

"Hey, kiddo! What are you doing out here this late?" Jr whipped around to see who was speaking in that strange tongue. It was an old Inkling. His "hair" was white and he had a thick beard growing. His shirt was also tattered, but despite this it was decorated with badges. Jr didn't really know what to do or say as he also didn't understand what he had said to him. The elderly man realized he was an Octarian upon getting a closer look, and a young one at that. He spoke again in Octarian tongue.

"Hey, kiddo. Isn't it past your bed time?" he asked gently. Jr blinked and then silently replied.

"It is... But I wanted to see the sky... It's my first time..." The old man softened upon hearing that. He grinned.

"How would you like a closer look?" Jr was curious but also uncertain of whether or not to trust him. He was Inkling after all. Jr stayed put. "Come kiddo. I'm unarmed." Jr blinked upon hearing this. He hesitated, but he finally climbed out of the kettle fully and towards the old man. The elderly Inkling led him to a telescope. "Take a look to your heart's content." Jr stared at him then to the telescope. He took a peek and was wowed at seeing the stars closer.

"That's called a telescope. Ever used one before?" he asked. Jr shook his head and the man chuckled. "I'll tell you all you need to know about telescopes and stargazing, then."

Back underground, DJ Octavio had finally finished his work for today. He made his way into the palace and set down his briefcase in his study. He ate, washed up, and finally made it to his son's room. He poked his head in and then entered.

'Someone's certainly bundled under his covers' he thought to himself looking at the lump in Jr's bed. He pet the lump gently and noticed something odd. He pulled down the blankets and it was just pillows and his Octo plush. He began panicking. He immediately went to Lorelei's home and began banging down the door.

"LORELEI! OPEN UP!" he yelled. She groggily got up.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" she groaned as she opened the door. "What is it, your majesty?"

"IT'S JR! I WENT TO HIS ROOM AND HE WAS GONE!"

"Gone?! What so you men GONE?!" she yelped.

"Gone as in HE WASN'T IN HIS BED!"

"How could you let this happen?"

"ME?! YOU were the last one watching him!"

"He was fast asleep when I left! He must have sensed your presence and left!"

"WELL WHATEVER! Just help me FIND HIM!" So they began checking areas she a Jr frequented. He was nowhere to be found. Soon the king launched a dome-wide search and all kinds of Octarians were looking for him. It was starting to feel hopeless and all Jr's parents were worried. DJ Octavio, Lorelei, and Octobob regrouped to figure something out.

"Do you two have any idea what he was thinking about today other than Inklings? I know that's his current interest right now. Maybe it could give us an idea?" DJ Octavio suggested. He's caregivers thought for a few seconds.

"Um... He only talked to me about Inklings... How about you, Lorelei?" Octobob asked. Lorelei was silent, but then something hit her.

"THE SKY!" she exclaimed suddenly. They both stared silently and surprised. "I was telling Jr about the sky and I remember him asking me to go see it. Of course I said we couldn't, but you don't think he went up there by himself, do you...?" she paused thoughtfully. "Commander Ima did find him in her office earlier. I'm not sure how he got there..."

"S-so there's a chance he went to the surface?" Octobob asked. She nodded.

"Since you two screwed up in watching him, I'll retrieve him." DJ Octavio announced. Lorelei shot him a glare and Octobob just frowned. The King walked off. He began making his way kettle to kettle through a path similar to that of Jr's. Finally he reached the surface.

He peered around until he heard familiar voices. He approached where the sound was coming from as quietly as he could. It was both Cap'n Cuttlefish and Jr. He cleared his throat. Jr and Cuttlefish both turned.

"Hi, dad..." Jr said. He ran over to him and climbed into his arms. DJ Octavio glared Cuttlefish down. He spoke in Squinglish.

"Cuttlefish..."

"Good to see you, Octavio, old friend." the captain chuckled.

"We are NOT friends. Are you snatching up Octarian children now?"

"He came up out of his own volition. He wouldn't be the first you know?" DJ Octavio grunted at that. "Are you planning something, Octavio?"

"That is none of your business. Just stay away from us and my son, OK?" Cuttlefish sighed and DJ Octavio scurried back into the kettle with Jr. Lorelei and Octobob were waiting in a nearby kettle. They saw Octavio. No reaction. Then they saw Jr. Their faces lit up and they ran over.

"Your highness!" Octobob cried.

"Jr, we were so worried!" Lorelei exclaimed, basically prying Jr from Octavio's hands. "Why would you run off like that?"

"I wanted to see the sky, mommy..." he twiddle his hands. "I got to! It was really pretty!" She wanted to be mad, but couldn't help but smile.

"That's very nice, sweetheart. You have to promise mommy and Octobob that you won't sneak off like that again though, ok? You could've gotten hurt or worse. Do you promise?" she asked.

"I'm sorry mommy and Octobob. And I promise not to sneak off like that again..." he murmured.

"Good boy." she smiled. DJ Octavio tapped his foot impatiently.

"Well, I'm heading to bed now. Make sure he doesn't run off again." He leaves.

"Make sure he doesn't run off again!" Lorelei imitated him mockingly once he left. Jr giggled and Octobob couldn't help but chuckle.

"Let's get you to bed, my little prince." Octobob said.

"Kay..."

So they tucked him in once again. They read him a story and sang to him a little, before he finally fell asleep, for SURE this time. He would be having sweet dreams of the night sky for the coming nights.


	8. Chapter 7: Hide and Seek

Things had relatively gone back to normal. Jr's Inkling itch had subsided and his wanderlust had a little bit as well. His main interest was back in the domes, specifically learning about each one and its purpose. Since he had taken an interest in that, Octobob decided to take the young prince on a small field trip through some of the main types of domes. The first one was a food dome.

"This is the kind of done we grow food in, your highness." Octobob began. Jr stared in awe. "We've created bulbs that emulate the sun. That helps the plants grow."

"And water too, right?" Jr asked excitedly.

"Indeed, your highness." Octobob smiled gently. "Flooders are often used to do that since water can be bad for Octarians. The Flooders are set to a schedule too, so the plants don't get over watered."

"Wow..." Jr looked at the Flooders as they did their work. Octobob gently patted Jr's head.

"Let's head to the next one, OK?" Jr climbed onto Octobob's scooter with him and they rode off to the next dome. This one was much larger than the last and had several buildings scattered across floating platforms.

"What's this one, Octobob?" Jr asked.

"This dome is where people live. Once people finish work or school they return to domes much like this one. Buildings are filled with all sorts of different Octarians with all sorts of different careers." Octobob explained. Jr quietly looked around and went to hide between Octobob's legs when some Octarians waved to him. Octobob chuckled quietly.

"Ready to go to the next one?" Octobob asked. Jr nodded. They scooted to the next one. This one was a training dome.

"This dome is where training takes place. Whether it would be physical or mental, it would happen in a dome like this." Octobob explained.

"Like what I do with Aunty Josephine?" Jr asked.

"Yes. Exactly, your highness." Octobob was explaining still and Jr was sort of getting bored. He quietly snuck off and hid. Octobob was about to go off on another tangent when he noticed Jr was gone. He almost freaked out until he saw Jr's hair poking out from behind a trashcan.

"Hm... I would where the prince could be...?" he pondered aloud. He could hear Jr giggling. "Perhaps he's right here!" He found Jr and the kid was full on laughing now.

"I guess you got tired of me rambling, huh?" Jr nodded. "Do you wanna play something? Like hide and seek?" Jr nodded again, only more feverishly. Octobob chuckled. "OK, your highness. Do you want to hide or seek?"

"I wanna hide!" Jr exclaimed excitedly.

"OK, your highness. Let's head to a safer area to play first, OK?"

"'Kay." Octobob climbed into his scooter, as did Jr, and they headed to a different dome. They were in a dome close to the palace's dome. It was basically a dome for performing ceremonies, but it was basically unused since there wasn't much to celebrate. They would play in here.

"Are you ready, your highness?" Octobob asked.

"Uh-huh!" Jr replied cheerfully.

"OK. I'm gonna start counting. You be sure to hide somewhere in this dome, alright?"

"Alright!"

Octobob turned and covered his eyes. He began counting. Jr hurriedly found a hiding spot. Once Octobob counted to thirty, he began looking for the small prince. Jr wasn't all too good at the hiding thing, so it was easy to find him. They played for what seemed like hours. Eventually Octobob was getting a bit tired, but Jr wanted to play more.

"Alright, your highness. We can play ONE more game, and then we have to go home and eat dinner, OK?" Octobob said.

"'Kay." Jr replied.

Octobob began counting once again and Jr went to hide. Creeeak. Octobob paused and listened. Creeeeeeak. He heard it again. He turned and looked up. It was several panels. They were hanging by the wires which were all slowly snapping. All this above was happening above Jr. He didn't know what to do and panicked. He began running to the area where Jr was.

"Jr! Jr! I found you! Come to me quickly!" he yelped. Octobob usually referred to Jr as 'your highness' so this was odd. Jr was unaware of why Octobob was acting so strangely.

"Octobob...?" Jr asked quietly. The wires snapped and the panels fell, pulling several rocks with it.

"JR!" Octobob shrieked as the panel and rocks fell onto the small Octoling. The floor and everything crumbled beneath the child and Octobob stopped dead in his tracks. The debris fell and eventually landed with a thud. Octobob was grief-stricken. He had no idea what to do or who to call. All he could do is sob. Through these sobs though, he took action. He called Lorelei.

"Octobob? What is it?" She asked. She could barely make out what he was saying through his sobs. She heard 'Jr' and 'panels' and that's all she needed. "My cod... I'm coming. I'll get help."

Eventually she and help came. They saw where the panels and rock fell from and began the searching through the debris. Lorelei went stomping up to Octobob. He cowered in fear expecting the worst from her. She reached towards him with her tentacle. He braced himself. His expectations were wrong as she just pulled him into a hug. Her breathing was heavy and soon he felt her tears on his head. She sobbed hard which soon lead to wailing. He didn't know what to do, so he ended up crying some more. The two cried wrapped in each other's tentacles for a long while.

Once they calmed down for the most part, Lorelei spoke.

"How will we tell his father? He'll kill you..." She said sadly.

"I... I don't know... He'll kill me or worse, probably... It's what I deserve. I let this happen to our prince..." Octobob whimpered.

"Octobob! Don't say that! You never could've predicted those panels falling! Let alone being in a situation like this! None of us ever do!" She held his tentacle. "You won't face Octavio by yourself. I'll take the blame with you."

"Lorelei, I-I could never ask you to do something like this for me! Especially for my mistake!" he yelped.

"I don't care! He's my responsibility too! He's my child too! So I'm gonna go with you and take half the blame! We're in this together, remember?" He's silent. "Remember?!" She shakes his tentacle to emphasize her point.

"I do! I do... I'm just so scared of what he'll do. Especially if Jr's..."

"Jr's not gonna be dead!" she cut in. "I just... I just know it..." She averted eye contact briefly. She looked back at him finally. "Come on, let's go tell him. The sooner, the better. If you wanna call it that..." Octobob gulped, but complied.

DJ Octavio was working away in his office. The couple stepped in. Lorelei spoke up.

"DJ Octavio, we have something important to report."

"Can it wait? I'm sorta in the middle of something." he replied, not even looking up from what he was doing. Lorelei's eyes narrowed.

"Your majesty, i-it's about your son." Octobob peeped, his voice cracking a little. DJ Octavio finally glanced up.

"What about him? Where is he?" Octobob bit his lip and was holding back tears. "Well? Where is he?"

Lorelei sighed sadly.

"DJ Octavio, there was an accident involving Jr. Some panels fell and he was caught in the mess."

"This is some kinda joke, right? Some kinda SICK joke, right?!" he urged. They remained silent. He got up and flipped the desk, scattering papers and whatever else was on the table. Lorelei defensively pulled Octobob behind her.

"How did this happen?! Who the HELL was watching him?!" he bellowed. His voice echoed through the palace halls.

"We BOTH were watching him! We didn't know that would happen and you know all the domes are unstable! It could've happened anywhere!" Lorelei yelled back.

"And why aren't you back there looking for him?! Hell, is anyone looking for him?!"

"Of course someone's looking for him! We were looking for him too! We just thought you'd want to know something had happened to him considering he's your son!"

"I can't believe you two let this happen! Consider yourselves fired as his caretakers! Once we find him, I don't want you two anywhere near him!"

Lorelei blinked angrily.

"You can't do that!"

"I sure as hell can! I'm his father!"

"Like hell you are! You're barely there for him! The last time you were there for him was when he was a goddamn baby! Then you dumped him off on Octobob and me!" His eyes narrowed and he went silent.

"I am doing the best I can for him. Now make yourselves useful and go back and look for him. You aren't to come anywhere near him after he's found." he growled.

Lorelei scowled and stormed out the room. Octobob quickly followed and tears poured from his eyes. They headed back to the dome and continued looking for their missing child.

Hours had passed. There was still sight of the young prince. Octarians were starting to lose hope. Lorelei spoke up.

"Don't you guys give up! Jr's somewhere under all that debris! We've found others before, so I'm sure we'll find him!" she exclaimed triumphantly. They kept searching. They did shifts and the search ending up going into the following day. The two caretakers barely got any sleep. How could you when your child's life was at stake? They were up and at 'em once again.

Octobob silently oversaw the search. He was beginning to feel very hopeless. He looked up at Lorelei who was hyper-focused on the Octarians searching.

"Lorelei... Do you really think we'll find him? A day has already passed with no luck..." he said quietly. She sighed and looked down at him.

"I know this seems like a lost cause, but I want to find our baby. If worst comes to worst we'll have to deal with it... Loss is always hard to deal with... But, right now, I'd rather hope to find him then just expect him to be dead. Jr wouldn't want us to be moping, would he?"

"No, of course not."

"Let's just keep hoping and praying that he's found. OK?" she smiled gently.

"OK." he smiled back. They continued overseeing. They searched for hours, the searchers changed around as shifts finished. The prince was still not found...

Deep debris, Jr stirred. Everything was blurry. He blinked slowly until things became clear. He tried moving, but pain shot through his entire body. He whimpered. His eyes darted around. Where was he? What had happened? He tried to remember. He thought for a few moments. He remembered the falling panels and Octobob's shriek. After that he had blacked out.

He was under all this debris now. He tried to move again. His body ached. He could barely move to begin with anyways, considering he was in a tight space. What could he do? He wanted to move, but his body and the limited space prevented him. What to do? What to do? Oh. Maybe calling for help.

"Help..." his voice was coarse and very soft. Not as loud as he could be. He tried again.

"Help...!" A bit better. Again and again he called for help. Little by little his calls got louder.

Outside of the debris everyone was losing hope. An Octostriker pulled out their walkie to call Lorelei.

"I was worried this might become a recovery instead of a rescue..." they sighed. They were about to press the button, but heard a muffled sound. They listened again. They followed the noise and started digging.

"OI! Someone else get over here and help me dig!" they yelled loudly. Two others came to assist them. They kept digging and digging. The sound became clearer and clearer. A bit of dirt sprinkled on Jr's head. He winced. The Octostriker caught a bit of red. They moved a huge chunk of a panel. It was the young prince.

"Ohh my cod! It's the prince! Your highness, are you alright?" they asked.

"It hurts..." he whimpered.

"Right, right. You've just been in an accident. You two, get first-aid stat. I'm gonna call the commander." The two Octobombers didn't dawdle. They got a small stretcher and carefully picked Jr up and placed him on it. They began flying out with him. The Octostriker called Lorelei. Her heart began racing and she picked up.

"Well?" she asked.

"He's alive, commander! Prince Octavio Jr is alive! I've sent him up right now!" the Striker exclaimed happily. Lorelei cheered and picked Octobob up, swinging him around. Octobob laughed and also cried tears of joy. They waited eagerly for the two go arrive with their baby. A few moments passed and they saw the two Bombers with their child. They landed on the platform and they ran over.

"Mommy... Octobob..." Jr murmured.

"Oh thank cod you're alive! We were so worried about you!" Lorelei exclaimed.

"I'm sorry I fell down, mommy..." Jr sniffled.

"Oh no no no, baby. It's not your fault, OK?" she gently stroked Jr's head.

"We should probably get him some medical attention. He's definitely hurt and dehydrated too." Octobob gently and quietly urged to Lorelei.

"Oh, of course... Jr sweetie, we're gonna take you to the doctors to make sure you're OK. You're still my big strong boy, right?" He nodded. "Good boy. Let's go now."

They headed off to the castle infirmary. Jr was fast asleep at this point. The Octobombers took Jr into the office. Lorelei and Octobob were about to follow, but an Octoling blocked them.

"The king has instructed us that he doesn't want you two in there with him." she said.

"What? Why not?!" Lorelei demanded.

"The king said you two are relieved of your caretaking duties."

Lorelei and Octobob exchanged looks.

"You're joking, right?"

The Octoling shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Commander Lorelei. I don't know why he'd do this considering the amazing job you two have been doing... Maybe it's for the best..."

"Oh, I am DEFINITELY going to have a word with our gracious leader." Lorelei growled as she stomped off angrily. Octobob didn't know what to say or do, so he followed Lorelei.

With Jr safe now, things should have been looking up. But DJ Octavio wanted Lorelei and Octobob nowhere near Jr after that incident. Could he really keep them apart from the child they raised?


	9. Chapter 8: Irreplaceable Parents

Jr was back in the ceremony dome. He saw Octobob and Lorelei. They were running towards him in slow motion. He blinked and looked up and before he could react, panels and rocks came crashing down on him. He was trapped again. The space was getting smaller and smaller. He couldn't breathe. He felt like he was about to burst.

He jolted awake. He was breathing heavily and he looked around. He was in his room. Thank god, it was just a dream. He was patched up with bandages. He wasn't in pain like he was earlier, but he sure felt tired. Usually his mom or Octobob came to greet him. He stayed put. Eventually the door opened. He looked up hopefully, but his face drooped into a frown. It was DJ Octavio.

"Hey, Jr. How ya feelin'?" he asked.

"Tired and hurty..." Jr replied. "Where are mommy and Octobob?"

"Uhh, forget about them, Jr. You'll get some new caretakers." Jr stared, confused at that statement. Why would he need new caretakers?

"Are mommy and Octobob sick?"

"No-"

"Are they busy?"

"Jr, I-"

"They're gonna come and see me right?"

"Jr, ple-"

"I want my mommy and Octobob!"

"JR, THEY AREN'T COMING TO SEE YOU! EVER AGAIN!" the king bellowed. Jr was quite startled at this sudden outburst and clung to his Octo plush fearfully.

DJ Octavio realized he had frightened the child, so he softened his tone.

"Sorry for yelling Jr..."

The prince did not reply. The king continued.

"Look, Jr. I just don't feel like it's safe for you to be around Octobob and Lorelei. You've gotten into nothing but trouble since you've been around them. Your new caretakers will keep you safe." He was about to pat Jr, but Jr snapped at him. DJ Octavio recoiled before the child could sink his teeth into his tentacle. He sighed and walked out the room.

The two caretakers were waiting outside. They glanced at DJ Octavio for the verdict.

"He isn't taking this well... Hopefully he'll warm up to you soon. I'll be leaving him in your hands now."

"Yes, of course, your majesty." one of them replied. DJ Octavio headed off. They entered the prince's bedroom. They were in for hell.

Meanwhile, Lorelei was heated in her apartment. Octobob was over at her place, watching her angrily pace back and forth.

"I can't BELIEVE that guy! THE NERVE! We raise his kid for five years and he fires us! Over something out of our control!" Lorelei ranted.

"I will admit it's quite unfair to us. And to the prince as well." Octobob added.

"Does our gracious leader think Jr will take kindly to new caretakers? Hell no! If anything, Jr will be having a meltdown and eventually go and hide. He's shy and doesn't like meeting new people if he doesn't have to. But Octavio wouldn't know this because HE'S NEVER THERE!" She dropped herself into the couch. She's silent for a bit.

"I know I'm technically not even his mother... but... I raised him. We both did. Don't you think we deserve to be a part of his life?" Octobob patted her side with his tentacle.

"I do... But, what can we do?" he asked.

"I say we bide our time. Octavio will come crawling back eventually."

It had only been a few hours and one of the new caretakers had quit.

"Your majesty, I'm sorry, but I didn't sign up for getting mauled by your child! I quit!" they cried out. They ran off before he even could get a word in. He sighed. The other caretaker; an Octostriker, stood patiently outside of Jr's room. She smiled at the king sympathetically when their eyes met. He walked over to her.

"Is he still having that meltdown?" he asked quietly. She nodded sadly.

"I would love to be positive about this position, your majesty, but... Maybe you should consider the young prince's feelings in all this." she began. "To him, this is coming out if nowhere and he's being left with strangers. He's surely scared and confused, especially after that traumatic experience he just had. Maybe this isn't the right time for a change like this..."

He sighed. Jr's crying seemed to have died down. They peeked into the room. He was "fast asleep" on the floor. DJ Octavio quietly went into the room and put Jr into his bed. He stepped out.

"I'll have to think about letting those two back into his life. For now just keep an eye on him."

"Yes, of course, your majesty." He went off to attend to other things as she stood guard at the door. Inside the room, Jr was planning his escape. Once his plan was all set, he began doing his thing. He tied a bunch of clothes and whatever fabrics he could find in his room, making a rope. He then tied the "rope" to the heater in his room. It was off, so he had no worries of burning himself. He threw the rope out the open window and began climbing out.

He was climbing down just fine, until a pain shot up his left arm. He wasn't fully healed from his injuries. He almost fell, but he firmly graded the rope with his legs and other arm. The pain subsided. He eventually got down and made his way off into another dome.

The new caretaker poked her head in to check on Jr. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the open window and the rope attached to the heater. She immediately went to DJ Octavio.

"Your majesty! The prince! He's gone missing!" she exclaimed.

"WHAT? Why aren't you looking for him?!" he yelled.

"Your majesty, I figured you would know where he'd run off to, considering you ARE his father! Does he know how to use kettles?"

"Yeah!"

"Do you know where he could've gone?"

"No! Usually... Lorelei and Octobob would have eyes on him all the time. I was always too, erm, busy!"

She sighed deeply.

"Should we contact them?"

"No! I don't want them near Jr! Just get some people to search for him! We don't need their help!"

"OK, your majesty. I'm on it." She goes off to fulfil his wishes.

Meanwhile, Jr had made his way to the station where he first got his Inkling injury. There weren't any Octarians or Inklings in this dome as of recent, so prior, he and Lorelei would hang out here. She would always tell him amazing stories here. He climbed into Lorelei's chair. He leaned against the gun and sighed sadly.

"Do kids always get replacer moms and Octobobs? I don't want a new mom and Octobob. I want the same ones..." he sniffled. He didn't understand why his dad wanted to replace them. Wait. What if they didn't love him anymore? He gasped softly at the thought. Was it because he got hurt? Maybe that had made them not want to see him. Was he broken after he fell and got hurt? Maybe so. He began sobbing into his hands.

"Mommy... Octobob..."

Octavio and the newbie couldn't for the life of them find the young prince. None of the people looking for Jr could find him either. No one knew where to look or what places the prince frequented. All this knowledge was with his original caretakers. Little by little, the Octarians returned to the king with no leads. He was getting frustrated.

"Your majesty... No one knows where the young prince could be. None of have leads. Do you not think we should contact his original caretakers? I mean who could know them better than-" the Octostriker began.

"NO WAY. I am NOT about to let those two waltz back into my son's life!" DJ Octavio cut her off.

"Sir, with all due respect, your son's life could be in danger. He's still not fully healed either, so what if something were to happen to him and no one was around. It could be disastrous!"

He's silent because he knows she's right.

"Sir, I'm not sure of what kind of issues you may have with his former caretakers, but you need to put those feelings aside for Jr's sake. Can you please do that? Can you please contact them?"

He sighed heavily.

"Fffffffine. I'll do it." he grumbled. He made his way to the dome where Lorelei lived. He eventually made it up to her door. He sighed once again before finally knocking in the door. No reply. He knocked harder.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Lorelei called from inside. She swung the door open. "What do you...? Oh... Your majesty. How do you do?" You could basically hear the snarkiness rolling off her tongue.

"Um, hey Commander Lorelei... How've you been?" he asked sheepishly.

"Oh, you know. Just wallowing at home after being FIRED from a JOB a child's own parent wouldn't do. How's parenthood treating you and the new caretakers? I'm sure Jr's been absolute JOY for you." she replied, once again with utmost snark. He scratched the back of his head.

"About Jr... We can't seem to... find him."

"Then why aren't you looking for him? It's not like I'd have any idea where he'd go, considering how much time I've spent with him."

"Lorelei, please! Enough with the sass! Can you help me find him or not?!"

"I could, but that doesn't mean I should."

"What? Why not?"

"Didn't you say you don't want us around him? And basically blamed us for him getting hurt by things out of our control? Oh, and who's responsible for making sure domes are safe anyway, 'cause I'm pretty sure it's the king's job." DJ Octavio signed heavily. Octobob came to see who Lorelei was sassing and jumped upon seeing the king.

"Y-your majesty? Wh-what brings you here?" he peeped.

"I just wanted help finding Jr."

"But you fired us and wanted us to stay away from Jr."

"I KNOW. I know what I said... But, you're the only two who would know where he frequents. I just want to make sure he's safe. He's still not fully healed yet..." Lorelei and Octobob exchanged looks. They whispered to each other.

"Should we help him?" Octobob asked.

"I don't care about how he feels about all this. I just want our baby to be safe. We should cut a deal so we can be Jr's caretakers again. Let's be real, Jr won't take well to the newbies." Lorelei replied.

"Do you think it'll work?"

"Octavio's got no other choice."

They both tuned their attention back to the king.

"We'll help you, your majesty." Octobob said.

"But on ONE condition." Lorelei added.

"Which is?" DJ Octavio asked.

"You need to fire the new caretakers and rehire us again." Lorelei said.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Or, you know. You can let your only son perish because you couldn't swallow your pride. Yup. Sounds like a plan."

DJ Octavio groaned.

"Ffffffine. Alright. Y'all are hired, just find Jr."

Lorelei and Octobob cheered.

"Let's get going, Octobob." Lorelei grinned. Octobob smiled and followed her closely. The King was a bit miffed that they were back on the job, but if they could do it well, he shouldn't complain.

Jr was still waiting in the dome. He was done crying and was curled up on his mom's post. He felt sorts tired. Maybe even faint? He had to stay awake. He sat up and climbed down from the chair. Just then, Lorelei and Octobob entered the dome through the kettle. She spotted Jr in the distance. She called out to him. Jr turned around as he heard a call from the distance. He squinted.

"Mommy...?" he asked. He wobbled as he took a few steps.

"Jr!" Lorelei called. He finally recognized her. He wobbled a few more steps with his arms outstretched happily, until he finally fainted. Lorelei sprinted over as fast as she could. Octobob followed as fast as his little feet could. She scooped Jr up. He was still breathing, thank god. He must have been exhausted.

"Thank goodness he's alright..." she sighed. "We should probably get him home."

"Oh, of course." Octobob said. The couple eventually returned to the palace. The King paced impatiently. Octobob went to his room to tell him the news.

"Um, your majesty?" he peeped quietly.

"Did you find him?" DJ Octavio asked, somewhat impatiently.

"Y-yes! He did, um, faint, but other than that he's ok!" he replied nervously. The King sighed relieved. "W-we'll make sure he makes a full recovery."

"Alright good... And make sure he doesn't run off again." the king said. Octobob nodded and headed off. Lorelei was there in the room with Jr, gently speaking to the child.

"How is he doing?" Octobob whispered.

"Much better. The former caretaker told me about the medication he needs to be taking. With it and some rest he should make a full recover soon." Lorelei replied softly. Octobob took a seat on the bed and watched as she gently stroked Jr's head. She sighed contentedly.

"I'm so glad we can still be a part of this kid's life. He's really something special, eh?" she grinned. He grinned back.

"He really is." Now that Lorelei and Octobob were rehired as Jr's caretakers, things seemed to be returning to normal. He would soon make a fill recover and all would be well.


	10. Chapter 9: No More Lies

A horrible tragedy had struck, once again. An entire living dome had collapsed in on itself. Many lives were lost, and those who were saved were in critical condition. Everyone across the Valley had been shaken by this and many were uncertain about the safety of the domes and their chances of survival.

Jr walked down the halls of the palace, heading to his dad's room. He was tightly gripping a piece of paper. He had noticed it was lot quieter. As he passed by the Octarians would stop their conversations and greet him as if nothing was wrong. Strange. They looked quite solemn before seeing him. Did something happen. He passed by more and more Octarians, only getting tidbits of what they were talking about. Dome. Fatal. J4. That's about all he got from eavesdropping.

He reached his dad's room. He looked stressed. He was looking over some papers and holding his head. Jr tapped his leg. He jumped.

"O-oh! Jr! How ya doing, kiddo?" the king said, masking his concern.

"I'm OK, dad..." Jr replied softly. "Dad, did something happen? Everyone seems kinda sad..."

The king blinked surprised.

"Oh, of course! Everything's fine! Now run along now." he said, feigning cheerfulness. He was pushing Jr out the room at this point.

"But, dad-"

"Everything's JUST fine, Jr! Now go find your, um, mom! Later kiddo."

He fully pushed the little Octoling out of his room and shut the door. Jr frowned and looked down at the piece of paper. It was a drawing of him and DJ Octavio. He sighed.

"I guess I can give it to him later..." He headed back to his room.

Later in the day, Jr was waiting for lunch patiently. Usually, Lorelei would be telling him a story or just talking to him. Today, she was quite silent.

"Mommy?" Jr called quietly.

She appeared to be lost in thought, so she didn't reply.

"Mommy?" he called again.

Nothing.

"MOM!" he basically screamed. She jumped.

"Yes, Jr-sweetie? There's no need to yell." Lorelei finally replied.

"Sorry, mommy. You weren't answering me. That's why I yelled... Is something wrong?"

"Why do you ask, sweetheart?"

"Everyone's sorta quiet and sad... Even you, mommy." he said quietly, while twiddling his tentacles. She realized everyone was sort of giving off that vibe. She smiled gently.

"It's nothing for you to worry about. Now eat up, OK?" she said, placing a plate of food in front of him.

"'Kay..." He was not satisfied with that answer. He would find out what was going on, if it was the last thing he did.

Later on in the evening, Lorelei left Jr with Octobob. She had to sit at her post. He and Jr just visited one of the domes with a library. Octobob quietly read a book to Jr. Jr seemed a bit disinterested and wandered off. Octobob looked up from the book.

"Ah! Prince? Prince?!" he exclaimed. The librarian shushed him. "Sorry..." He went off to find Jr. Luckily the prince hadn't gotten too far. He was outside of the library, looking at a newspaper. The cover was talking about the recent event.

"Jr! You shouldn't run off like that!" Octobob said, sternly.

"Sorry, Octobob..." Jr apologized. "Octobob, what's a tragedy? And what happened to dome J4?"

Octobob sweated nervously.

"W-well, your highness, a tragedy can have many meanings? It can be a sad play or event... And nothing's wrong with some J4." he explained.

"How come the newspaper said there was a Tragedy in J4?" Jr probed further.

"It was just a play Jr! I-I think it's about time we got you down for a nap!" Octobob said, while hurrying Jr to the kettle.

"But, I'm not tired!" Jr whined.

"Now, now, your highness. You need your rest..." Octobob urged.

They eventually reached the palace, then Jr's room. Octobob made sure Jr was comfy and snug in his bed.

"Octobob, I don't wanna sleep..." Jr whined again. Octobob rubbed the prince's head gently.

"Jr, you're way too antsy today... I don't want you getting into trouble today. If you're not sleepy yet, I can always tell you a story."

"Tell me a story about dome J4."

"Wouldn't you rather hear a different story? Do you wanna know about when your father was a child?"

"Nope!"

"How about how brave your grandfather was?"

"Nuh-uh!"

Octobob sighed dejectedly.

"OK, I'll tell you a bit about it. But then you have to sleep, OK?"

"'Kay!" Octobob thought for a little.

"Some J4 was one of the many living and inventing domes. Several of the Octarians greatest minds lived there at one point or another. Did you know that one of the Octarians who worked on the original Octo Weapons lived there?" Jr shook his head. "Well, she did. She also helped make a lot of the technology which holds our Valley together..."

Octobob kept rambling until Jr was basically talked to sleep. Satisfied with the results, Octobob left the room. The nap, unfortunately, was short lived. Jr shot awake after an hour of sleeping. He quietly packed a little knapsack with "tools". He then crept out of his room. Octobob was listening to the radio quite loudly and cooking. A perfect time to sneak away. He was going to find out what happened to that dome whether they liked it or not.

He quietly slipped out of the palace and made his way to the kettle leaving. He followed directions of where to head. Kettle by kettle he inched closer to his goal. Finally he made it. He climbed through the kettle and stood onto of it. It was pitch black in there. He slipped his bag off and felt for something useful. His flashlight. He turned it on and looked around. It was a mess; a huge one at that.

He slowly climbed off the top of the kettle. He walked a few steps before tumbling over a cord and rolling down debris. He finally stopped as he bumped into a fallen rock. He whimpered, but pushed himself up. He sniffled, wiped away his tears, and continued. The further he went, he more uneasy he grew. He shouldn't have come here...

Back at the palace Octobob was looking up and down for Jr. He called Lorelei, but she didn't pick up. Hopefully she got his several voicemails. About half an hour passed, and Lorelei arrived.

"Octobob! Did Jr run off? Again?!" she exclaimed.

"Yes! I put him down for a nap after having him hassle me about THAT dome. You know? The ONE?" Octobob explained. Lorelei blinked.

"You don't think he... Oh my god. I think I know where he is. You stay here."

"Do you think he...?"

"It's all he's been thinking about. That place isn't stable and I'm not about to lose him AGAIN."

"Lorelei let me come with you!"

"We need someone to stay here. Just in case our gracious leader comes for his random Jr checkups. Can you please stay, Octobob?"

He frowned but sighed.

"OK... Just... Bring our prince home safely..."

She patted his back.

"I'll be back soon." And with that she was off.

Jr was still slowly climbing around the ruined dome. He had already lost his way. He didn't know which way he came from or which way he was going. He was starting to get really scared. He slipped and fell into a hole. He whipped his flashlight around and there was no way out. He was too small to reach the top where he fell in. He felt like the space was getting smaller. He pushed himself into a corner. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"HELP! HELP! SOMEONE! PLEASE HELP!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He kept screaming, in hopes someone would come looking for him.

Lorelei finally arrived in the dome. It was pitch black, as she expected, so she came prepared. Her glasses also doubled as her work goggles. She pressed a button on the side and activated the night vision. She began slowly trotting through the dome. After walking for a while, she heard echoes of a scream. Help? She recognized the voice.

"JR?!" she called out.

Jr heard her.

"MOMMY! MOMMY!" he called back.

She was relieved he was ok enough to yell back.

"WHERE ARE YOU, JR?!"

"I FELL DOWN IN A HOLE, I THINK!"

"OK, BABY. YOU KEEP YELLING 'HELP' AND I'LL COME FIND YOU, OK?!"

"OK, MOMMY!"

So Jr yelled and yelled. Lorelei followed his voice until it got clearer and clearer. She came across a hole where his voice could be heard loud and clear.

"Jr!" she exclaimed.

"Mommy!" he yelped back. He shone the flashlight out the hole and right into her face.

"Ugh, Jr." she groaned shielding her eyes. "Come here."

She reached into the hole and safely got the young prince out. He clung to her and was shivering like crazy. She wanted to be mad, but he seemed really shook. She left the dome with him. They eventually got back to the palace, where Octobob was patiently waiting outside.

"Oh thank cod you're both alright!" Octobob cried. He ran over to them and gave them both a hug.

"Octobob, I think we need to have a talk with Jr... About, you know what." Lorelei said. Octobob blinked, surprised.

"Are you sure? Do you think he's ready?"

"If we don't talk to him, he might keep running off into dangerous situations like this."

Octobob was quiet, but he sighed.

"You're right. Let's do this... Together?"

"Together."

Octobob and Lorelei took Jr into his room. He was quiet and twiddled his tentacles as he sat on his bed.

"Mommy...? Octobob...? I'm sorry for running away..." Jr began. "I thought if I went to dome J4 I could see what was making everybody so sad and make it all better... It was too dark and I didn't see anyone... I couldn't make it better..."

The two parents exchanged looks. Lorelei stroked Jr's head.

"Oh, sweetheart. That's OK. We don't expect you to fix things. Even if you're very mature right now." Lorelei said while tickling Jr. "It's very nice of you to care about other's sadness, but you shouldn't go risking your life like that, OK?"

"OK."

"Now, Octobob and I need to talk to you about something very important. Are you mature enough to handle it?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Good boy. Alrighty then..."

Octobob and Lorelei finally got to talk to Jr about the deterioration of the domes. He had many questions about why it was happening, what could be done about them, and so much more. The two parents answered his questions as best as they could. After a long discussion, Jr had a better understanding of what was happening and how it related to him and his family. He also vowed, to himself, that one day he would fix it all to help everyone. An ambitious goal, but who knows.


	11. Chapter 10: Princely Power

Several years had passed. Jr was now eight years old. He had gotten slightly more humanoid, but not by much. He could wear shirts comfortably now. He had also gotten into tinkering because of Octobob. He'd always watch Octobob fix household appliances when they would go kaput. His wandering didn't exactly cease, but it did ease up a tiny bit.

Today was one of the days where he'd sneak off and follow an Octoling group. While it could be dangerous, it was also a great learning experience. He followed the group closely and quietly all the way to their post.

They stood around quietly until one spoke up.

"Man, the King's sure working us to the bone these days" Octoling 1 complained loudly.

"We... We don't have bones..." Octoling 2 commented.

"BAH! You KNOW what I mean! He always sends a bunch of us to watch over domes and 99% of the time nothing even happens!"

"And then when our shift's done we go home to our rundown homes. When was the last time the living domes got any major repairs?! Pipes are dripping everywhere in my dome. It's frickin' nasty!" A third Octoling said.

"Right? When's our deadbeat king gonna fix any of this stuff? Whatever else he's working on better be good!" 2 said.

"I doubt it!" 1 said, causing all three of them to laugh. Once they calmed down, 2 spoke up again.

"It would be nice to see my folks again. I haven't seen them in months."

"Months?! Damn girl! And I'm getting all home sick being away from them for a few days." 3 said.

Jr was surprised to hear this. He couldn't imagine being away from his parents that long. He leaned to listen more closely, but ended up knocking something over. The Octolings got defensive over hearing that.

"Show yourself!" 1 bellowed. Jr was too scared not to comply, so he came out. They all felt fear now and dropped to their knees to bow.

"Y-your highness. I am SO sorry for yelling at you. Please forgive me." 1 begged. Jr didn't quite understand the formalities and why she was begging. He patted her head.

"It's ok. I'm not mad." Jr said, cheerfully.

"You're not gonna tell your father about what we said, are you?" 2 asked.

Jr shook his head.

"Nah. I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes, your highness. Anything, your highness." 2 said, immediately standing up and saluting.

"Have you really not seen your parents that long? And is your home really that broken?"

The Octolings exchanged looks.

"Yeah... I haven't seen them in a long while. And a lot of the domes are in bad shape." 2 explained.

"Who's in charge of fixing things?" Jr asked.

"Usually your pops is the head honcho, but General Argo manages which projects are being worked on." 3 explained.

"Can you take me there?"

"Are you nuts? We'd be leaving our post and we'd get into deep sea for doing that!" 1 exclaimed.

"Then tell your boss it was royal business. My mom said to give people stickers for royal business." Jr said, reaching into his knapsack. He pulled out some custom stickers his mom had made for him and handed one to each of the soldiers. "If you get into trouble, show her this. And when we're all done, you can go home to your families."

They all exchanged looks once again. Could they really get away with this? It wouldn't hurt to try.

"Alright, your highness. We'll take you there." 1 said.

The three Octolings began leading Jr kettle to kettle until they found the Repairs HQ. They all stared in awe, since it was a huge building with all kinds of UFOs going in and out. Jr lead now and they entered the building.

He went to the front counter.

"'Scuse me. Can I see General Argo?" he asked. His head couldn't even see over the counter, even on his tiptoes.

"General Argo isn't seeing anyone today. They're very busy." the receptionist said, not even looking up from her screen. One of the Octolings finally noticed he couldn't see over the counter, so she gave him a boost.

"It's very important." Jr pleaded.

"The general is very-" She froze once she saw Jr's face. "Y-your highness?! Wh-what brings you here?!"

"I wanna see the general. I gotta ask them to do something for me. Are they too busy? Should I ask my dad to-"

"Oh no no no no. We don't need your father to get involved. You can just head up to the general's office. It's on the top floor, room 3010."

"Oh OK. Thank you! Come on, girls, let's go." Jr said happily. The Octolings giggled and headed to the elevator. Jr pressed the button and the elevator came shortly. They entered and they slowly made their way to the top floor. The Octolings laughed amongst themselves as they headed up.

"Didja see the way she freaked out when she saw the prince?!" Octoling 1 laughed.

"Yeah! She looked super scared!" Octoling 2 said trying to hold back her laughter.

"And when he mentioned his dad? Holy carp, she looked like her soul left her body for a split second!" Octoling 3 laughed. Jr mostly just passively listened to their conversation. He was more interested in the amount of floors they were going up. They finally reached the top floor.

"We're here! Let's go to their office now." Jr exclaimed. They led him to the office. They stood at the door nervously. Jr looked up at them curiously.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Uhhh, I think it's better if you handle things from here, your highness... Royalty to general, y'know..." Octoling 2 said, rubbing the back of her neck. Jr shrugged.

"OK. Just wait for me here, OK?" They all nodded. Jr knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a voice from inside called. He entered and closed the door behind him. There was a large Octarian sitting in a large chair. They didn't even look up from the paperwork in front of them. Jr quietly sat in the chair across from their large desk.

"Hi... You're General Argo, right?" Jr asked. The general was surprised to hear such a young, high pitched voice. They looked up and was quite surprised to see a young Octoling sitting across from them; the prince at that.

"Oh... Hello, your highness. You out on a field trip with your pops?" they asked leaning on the desk casually.

"No. I'm just on my own today." he replied.

"Oh, look at you. Mr. Independent."

"Um, anyway, I came to ask for a favour."

"Oh, anything for our little Octarian prince."

Jr's face lit up.

"Well, a lot of the living domes are kinda broken, so I was wondering if you could get them fixed."

The general stared.

"Well, your highness, that's quite a noble sentiment, but there are other priorities right now."

"Like what?"

"Well, um, the Octo Weapons for one thing. And other weaponry. Not to mention stea-er implementing power sources."

Jr silently ponders.

"My dad told me that as prince I gotta make big decisions. And that I should always think about my fellow Octarians. And if Octarians don't have homes to go home to and sleep in, then they'll be too tired to work on Octo Weapons and that other stuff. Right?"

"Correct, your highness but we can't just stop working on the Octo Weapons."

"Hm... I mean I could just ask my dad about all this. He gets pretty mad when people don't listen to me..."

Argo froze at the thought of that. Octavio's rage was something no Octarian trifled with. It was bad. Really bad. His rage fits were explosive. He'd berate you. Take privileges and ranks away. Punish you. Anything to do to make you feel lower than the Valley already was. The general wanted to avoid this at all costs. Maybe they could compromise with the young prince.

"How about a compromise, little prince?" Argo suggested, anxiously.

"Compromise?"

"Like an alternate fix."

"Hm." Jr crossed his arms, but was listening.

"We can work on the domes one day and then the Octo Weapons the next. That way both of them will be worked on. How about it, your highness?"

Jr thought quietly, before nodding to this suggestion.

"That's good enough. You gotta tenta-promise, OK?" Jr said, holding out a tentacle.

"I tenta-promise." General Argo said, shaking the small Octoling's hand. Jr was content with this and climbed out of the chair.

"Thank you, General Argo. I'll come back later this week to see how things are going. OK?"

"Yes, of course, your highness. Thank you for gracing me with your presence."

"Bye bye." Jr said while waving and heading out the door. The general waved back and the door shut behind Jr. The general signed, relieved. They better get started on those fixes, so they began making their calls to their troops.

The Octolings were still waiting outside of the room. Jr walked up to them and they were staring hopefully.

"Did it go OK, your highness?" Octoling 3 asked. Jr smiled and nodded.

"General Argo said they'd do it." Jr replied.

The Octolings cheered and one of them picked him up and hugged him. Jr giggled and squirmed, so she put him down.

"Thank you so much, your highness. Is there anything we can do for you?" Octoling 2 asked. Jr scratched his chin.

"Can you take me home? Octobob's probably worried about me..."

"Oh, of course, your highness. Right away, your highness." Octoling 1 said. They led the little Octoling all the way home. Octobob was waiting outside of the palace anxiously. Once he spotted Jr with the Octolings he was somewhat relieved. Jr dismissed them and told them to go home and see their families, to which they happily complied. He went up to Octobob who greeted the young prince with a hug.

"Jr! I was so worried about you! What were you doing?! Where did you go?!" he cried.

"I was just with the Octolings at their post, Octobob. Nothing bad or dangerous happened." Jr replied. Octobob sighed.

"My little prince, please don't run off like that. You know I get worried! I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."

"I know, Octobob... Sorry..."

Octobob signed and petted Jr's head. He smiled gently.

"It's ok, my prince. I know you only wander off because you're curious. How about we get you some dinner? I'm sure you're starving."

Jr's face lit up.

"OK!" Jr exclaimed happily. As the two of them ate dinner, Jr talked about the Octolings he met, completely skipping the part where they took him to see General Argo. Octobob and his dad would need to remain in the dark about that.

A few weeks had passed and DJ Octavio was going to check on his Octo Weapons. They should be coming along fine and nearing completion. He entered the work area where one of them was being tended to. The workers seemed to be in better moods, but upon seeing his Octo Weapon, he was certainly NOT in a good mood.

"Yo! WHAT is THIS?!" the king exclaimed motioning to the Octo Weapon.

"This one is the Octostamp, sir." one of the workers replied, confused.

"I know that! Why isn't it almost done?!"

"The domes were being worked on, your majesty..."

"WHAT?! Who told my workers to do that?!"

"It was under royal instruction, sir. I assumed it was you who asked this of us..." They scratched their head.

"It wasn't me! I only wanted my Octo Weapons to be worked on! Unless it was...? But how could it be...?" Octavio trailed off. "Well, whatever. Just make sure it gets done and we get more people back to work on this!"

"Of course, your majesty."

The king left the area and returned to the palace. Lorelei was watching Jr this afternoon. He headed to Jr's living area and Lorelei was just watching TV with Jr.

"Lorelei, come. I need to ask you something."

She sighed grouchily and got up.

"Yes, your majesty?" she asked irritation in her tone.

"Has Jr been wandering off again?"

"Jr always wanders, sir."

"Well did he discuss anything with you? Like plans or something?"

"No. Not that I know of. Why are you asking all this?"

"He mighta messed with some of my plans, yo."

She stared as I'd something was wrong with him.

"You think an eight year old is conspiring against you?" she asked.

"I dunno! Maybe!" he yelled throwing his arms up.

She sighed and scratched her chin.

"Maybe try asking someone related to the changes. I honestly don't know."

"Oh yeah, right..."

"Yeaaah... Can I go now? Gotta start on lunch."

"Right, right. You can go." The two of them parted ways. As he returned to his office, Commander Ima was waiting outside.

"Commander Ima? 'Sup?" Octavio asked.

"Greetings, your majesty," she bows, "I just came to inquire about something."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Well, one of my squadrons left their station for a bit and told me it was royal business. Then they showed me these." She pulled out some stickers. DJ Octavio blinked, confused. "Was it you, you'd majesty?"

"No. I don't give people stickers. Also let people leave their post."

"Then who did it?"

"It wasn't me, so then it must've been Jr!"

"The kid's flexing his royal power! Is he allowed to boss people around like that?" Ima asked, surprise in her tone.

"Technically yes, but not if he's gonna mess with my plans. I'ma go talk with him."

"So no punishments are required for that squad?"

"Nah, it was Jr's meddling, that's all." She nodded and bowed, then headed off on her way. The King headed back to Jr's living area. He was in the kitchen eating lunch with Lorelei. He sat at the table with them.

"Dad, you're eating lunch with us?!" Jr asked excitedly while jumping up in his chair. Lorelei pulled him back down.

"Uhh, sure..." he replied dumbfounded. Jr ran off and got a plate and put food into it. He ran back and slid the plate in front of his dad. He also put a fork and knife on both sides of the table. He finally sat back down. Lorelei stared suspiciously across the table.

"Are you done working for today, dad?" Jr asked. The King shook his head.

"Still a lot of stuff to do, kiddo. I actually have a question for ya." DJ Octavio started. Jr was listening intently. "Do you know what these are?"

He pulled out three stickers. Jr was a bit surprised to see those again. Was it from them...?

"They're stickers. Mommy made those for me." Jr replied.

"Some Octolings had them. Why is that?" DJ Octavio probed further.

"I gave them the stickers."

"Why did you give them the stickers?"

"'Cause they were nice and I like them. Dad, you're not eating the food..."

"Jr, is there something you're not telling me?" he probed EVEN further. Jr was quiet. Did his dad know what he did? Jr didn't think it was a bad deed. Was it bad?

"What do you mean, dad?" Jr asked.

"Are you keeping secrets from your father, Jr?"

"You, mom, and Octobob are keeping secrets from me. So I can keep my own secrets." Jr replied bluntly.

The King was caught off guard and Lorelei snorted trying to hold back laughter. He shot her a look before turning his attention back to Jr. He was starting to get irritated.

"Jr, did you do something to mess up my troops?"

"Your majesty, he's a child. What could he possibly do to mess with your troops?" Lorelei cut in.

"Butt out, Lorelei." the king spat out.

She simply glared.

"Well, Jr?"

Jr shook his head. To Jr, he didn't mess anything up. All he did was help people get their homes fixed. And helping is good, right? Maybe he could explain.

"All I did was ask General Argo to fix the domes. And they said they'd do it..."

DJ Octavio massaged his temples and sighed deeply.

"Jr, you can't just DO that."

"How come?" Jr asked, puzzled.

"Because you're the prince."

"And?"

"You have power over them."

"What do you mean, dad?"

"They HAVE to listen to you!"

"That's bad?"

"No, no. That's good that they're listening."

"Then how come I'm in trouble?"

"Because you can't boss people around like that and mess with my plans."

"But I wanted to help the people..."

The king growled, irritated at the fact Jr didn't understand.

"Lorelei! Talk to your child!" And with that be stormed out the room. Jr blinked confused and hurt.

"Mommy...? Why was dad so mad at me? Was I bad...?" Jr whimpered.

She gently stroked his head before giving him a peck.

"No, Jr. You did something very good for the people. What you asked the general to do did clash with your dad's plans, but that doesn't mean it was bad." Lorelei explained. "Your dad was just being silly, OK?"

She smiled and Jr and he smiled back.

"Mommy, what did dad mean when he said I had power over people?" Jr asked.

"Well, baby, since you're prince that makes you the boss of everybody in Octo Valley."

"Everybody? Even you, Octobob, and dad?" he asked, surprised.

"Not your dad, but me and Octobob yes."

"I can't be boss of you and Octobob. You guys tell me what to do."

Lorelei laughs.

"Well, that's just what parents are supposed to do. Anyways, since you're the boss only under your dad, that's why everyone has to listen to you."

"Oh..."

"It's like a special power. But you have to remember to use it carefully or you could get others into trouble, OK?"

"OK, mommy."

She ruffles his hair.

"Atta boy. Come on, let's go play a game. Does that sound good?" She suggested.

"Yeah!" he said excitedly.

So Jr had a slightly better understanding of what it meant to be prince and of the power he holds over people. As he gets older, he would learn to use this power responsibly and in a positive manner.


	12. Chapter 11: Who's My Mom?

Jr was playing in DJ Octavio's office while he was away. Usually, the king didn't want the young Octoling in there, but when he was away, it was Jr's domain. He was going through his dad's drawers looking for snacks, when found a photo in the bottom of the drawer. He pulled it out. It had Octavio in a humanoid form, a woman in her humanoid form, and a small baby Octoling in its small octopus form. He didn't recognize any of the adults, but the baby looked like him. Before he could react, DJ Octavio came into the office. Their eyes met and then the king glanced down at what Jr was holding.

"Jr! I thought I told you to stay out of my office! And what do you have there?!" the king exclaimed angrily.

"Sorry, dad." Jr replied, climbing down from the chair. "It's a photo. I think I'm in it. And a lady and a man."

The king froze before quickly going over and snatching the photo.

"Jr! You are not allowed to go into that drawer! And don't touch my personal belongings! Get out!" DJ Octavio yelled. Jr was too scared to argue so he dashed out of the room. The King was still breathing heavily, but soon calmed down. He looked down at the photo and sighed. He tried smoothing it out and then put it back into the bottom of his drawer.

"Why did you have to leave me...? I still needed you..." he mumbled. He got what he needed from the office and left the palace once again.

Jr watched as his dad left once again. This time he went to his dad's bedroom. In there he had a different photo. It had the lady again and the man as well. It looked like the people from the photo in the office too. Using drawers as stepping stools, he grabbed the frame with the photo and went off with it. He ran to his room and stashed it in a drawer with some clothes. He would ask his parents about the people in the photo later.

Later, he was watching TV with Octobob. Jr quickly ran off to retrieve the photo and return shortly.

"What's that you have there, your highness?" Octobob asked. Jr showed Octobob the photo.

"A photo. Do you know who these people are? I saw another photo kinda like it in my dad's office. Do you know?" Jr asked.

Octobob was sweated nervously. Should he answer or not? He didn't know if DJ Octavio wanted Jr to know about Blanca yet. But it wouldn't hurt if he knew who the man in the photo was, right?

"Well, your highness... The man in the photo is your father."

"Dad's an Octoling?! How come he's always in octopus form...?" Jr asked, super surprised at learning this.

"I think he's more comfortable in that form..."

"What about the lady? Who's she?"

"O-oh, her? Just an old friend of your dad." Octobob said, trying very hard to conceal the truth.

"Is she nice? Can I meet her?"

"Um, she's, er, travelling constantly Jr. So you'll probably never get to see her."

"Awww..." Jr frowned and slouched into the couch. Another question hit the young prince. "Octobob, in my dad's office, I found another photo. It had my dad, the lady, and me as a baby! Why was that lady holding me?"

Octobob began sweating more profusely.

"I-I'm not sure, your highness. Um, um... OH! I think it's time for your Octoling training!" Octobob scrambled out of the chair and grabbed Jr's backpack.

"Awwww, already? I wanna know about the lady..." Jr whined.

"You can ask your father about the lady later, OK?"

"OK..." Jr replied, dissatisfied.

Octobob quickly took Jr over to Josephine's place. She was happy as always to do training and didn't even question how early they were. While doing target practice, Jr spoke to Josephine's eldest daughter, Josie.

"Hey, Josie, how do you know if your parents are keeping secrets from you?" Jr asked.

"What do you mean, your highness?" Josie asked back.

"Like, I was asking Octobob about a lady I saw in a photo. He got all sweaty and I don't know why. Do you think he's keeping a secret?"

"Maybe. My mommy said people keep secrets because they're scared or angry. Maybe he's that." she suggested. Jr shot at the target and almost got a bullseye. They both cheered excitedly at that. Back to the conversation.

"I don't think he's mad... He always gets scared though." Jr continued. "I guess I'll just ask my mommy or dad about the pictures." The training continued.

Later in the day, Lorelei came to pick Jr up. Jr waved bye to Josephine and Josie and ran to his mother's side. He held her tentacle as they headed home. Once they reached the palace, she began preparing a snack for the young prince. While he did this, he ran to his dad's office once again. He climbed into the chair and opened the drawer with the photo. He stared at it for a bit before running out of the room with it.

"Mommy!" he yelled.

"Indoor voice, baby." Lorelei reminded him.

"Sorry, mommy..." he murmured as he went to her side. He showed her the photo. "Who's this lady holding me?"

She glanced at the photo briefly, before double taking.

"Where did you get this photo?" she asked.

"Dad's office..."

"You know you're not supposed to go in there, mister." she sighed.

"Do you know when the lady will come back? Octobob said she's on a trip."

Her heart sank. She knew what had happened to Queen Blanca, but she didn't feel that it was her place to tell him. That was for DJ Octavio to tell him. She would continue with Octobob's lie as much as she hated it.

"Well, Jr. The lady was a very close friend of your dad. Your dad trusted her enough for her to hold you. And she's not coming back because she's, um, a spy."

"A spy?"

"Yes, sweetheart. She's a spy in Inkopolis. She sends us information and she can't leave or she might blow her cover."

"Oh..." he sounded a bit disappointed. "Was she nice?"

"She was very nice. Everyone really loved her." she said, handing Jr a bowl of grapes. "You have to put the photo back after your snack, OK?"

He nodded. He seemed somewhat satisfied with her answer and didn't press her any further. His last option was his dad. Hopefully he could give him the full story he craved. He later put the photo back in the drawer. He went to read in his room.

Lorelei went to talk to the king about this pressing subject of Blanca.

"Your majesty, can we talk?" She asked, poking her head into his office.

"What is it, Lorelei?" he asked back, irritation already in his tone.

"Jr's been asking about Blanca. You know, his actual mother? When do you plan on letting him know about this?" she demanded.

"I dunno? Can't you tell him?"

"Oh yeah. Totally. Tell a child who knows me as his mom that I'm not his mom. Sound idea."

The king groaned at her sarcasm.

"You better tell him soon. He's been going through your stuff. He's been seeing the photos. Knowing his wanderlust, he'll find out about her sooner or later." she said. Before he could get a word in, she left.

He sighed and opened the drawer with the photo. While he hated to admit it, Lorelei was right. It wasn't fair to push Jr away when the subject of Blanca came up. She was his mother. He deserved to know about her. He would try to tell Jr later.

This evening was one of few evenings where DJ Octavio was free, so Octobob prepared a dinner that the king and his son could eat the table. Jr was a bit nervous and excited to be dining with his dad. He couldn't even remember the last time it had happened, if at all. The two sat across from each other. They ate quietly until DJ Octavio decided to break the ice.

"So, Jr... How ya been?" he asked, awkwardly. He did not know how to talk to his own son.

"Fine. I got to train with Josie and Aunty Josephine."

"That seems aight..."

"And I read a book about the old Octo Weapons. Dad, are you making new ones or fixing the old ones?" Jr asked.

"Oh, we're making new ones."

"How come we can't use the old ones?"

"The tech's outdated, yo. Out with the old and in with the new, kiddo."

"Oh. Ok."

They ate for a little while longer. Jr eventually spoke up again.

"Dad, can I ask you something?" he asked, while poking around in his food.

"What's up?" the king inquired.

"That photo in your office..." he began. The King tensed up. "Was that baby me?"

DJ Octavio was quiet until he finally answered.

"Yeah, that was you."

Jr was satisfied with that answer.

"And that man. Was that you, dad?" Jr continued.

"Y-yeah. That's me back in the day..." he replied, starting to get a bit nervous.

Jr nodded approvingly.

"And that lady... Who is she...?" Jr finally asked.

DJ Octavio was dead silent. Jr looked up from his plate and stared at the king expectantly. What should he say? That's your mom? What if that confuses the kid? Your dead mom? No, can't say that. Then you'd have to teach him about death. What to say? What to say?

"Dad?" Jr asked. The King snapped back to reality.

"W-well, Jr... That's... Your... Um..." he stammered. He finally got an idea. "That's your original caretaker. She turned out to be bad at the job, so I fired her."

"Mommy said she was a spy..." Jr said, suspicious.

"Uh, it was her other job."

"What's her name?"

"Um, Blanco." he blurted out. Blanco? That was the best he could come up with?!

"Oh. Mommy said you two were really close. And that a lot of people missed her when she went on her trip."

His heart sank. The kid didn't know it was a trip she wasn't coming back from.

"Y-yeah. We were tighter than glue..." DJ Octavio trailed off. He was silent for a little. "Finish your dinner, kiddo."

"OK, dad."

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. DJ Octavio sent Jr off to his caretakers so he could go mope over Blanca. He hated bringing that topic up. And bringing it up to Jr was harder. He still couldn't tell him. Jr was taking a bath, so Lorelei went to check up on the king.

"Did you tell him about Queen Blanca?" she asked as soon as she entered the room.

"Leave me alone, Lorelei." DJ Octavio groaned.

She glared.

"You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Leave me alone, Lorelei." he emphasized once again.

"How long are you gonna keep Blanca a secret from him? Don't you think he deserves to know?"

"Well, yeah!"

"Then why don't you just tell him?!"

"I dunno! It's hard for me, OK?!"

She stared at him trying to figure out his struggle. Could it be he was afraid to feel? To be vulnerable in front of his child? The king wasn't too macho for that, was he?

"Your majesty... I know this might be a sensitive topic for you, especially considering she was your wife, but she was Jr's mother too. You have to tell him."

He was silent. She was right. It's his mother. So he deserved to know. He dragged himself out of his chair.

"I'll tell him... But this is out of my own volition, not 'cause you were hassling me!" he said.

"Alright, alright." she said, rolling her eyes. He went to Jr's room to talk to him, but he wasn't in there. He wandered the whole palace looking for the child, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Lorelei!" he called. She came shortly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Where's Jr?"

"He wasn't in the bathroom? Or his room?"

"No."

"Maybe Octobob came and collected him?" she suggested. The King pulled out a walkie and called the Octotrooper.

"H-hello?" Octobob answered nervously.

"Octobob! Is Jr with you?!"

"He should be with you or Lorelei, shouldn't he?"

"He ain't with us!"

"O-oh... Then he must've wandered off as usual..."

"Goddamn it! He always does this!" the king yelled. Octobob held his walkie away from his ear.

"I'll start searching for him, your majesty." Octobob said while hanging up.

The king turned back to Lorelei.

"I'll look too, as should you." she said before turning to leave. The King sighed and started his search too.

Elsewhere, Jr was making his way through the domes. It wasn't until he bumped into an Octobomber when he stopped. She turned around.

"Your highness? It's a little late for a walk, don'tcha think?" she asked.

"I had to go for important reasons. Important prince reasons." Jr replied.

"Alright, your highness." she chuckled. "If you want you can chill here with me for a bit."

Jr hesitated, but eventually sat beside her. They stared up at the panels for a bit. The panels were simulating that of a starry night sky.

"Ms. Octobomber...?" Jr began.

"Yes, your highness." she replied.

"Do you know anyone named Blanco?"

"I believe you mean Blanca, your highness."

"You know her?" he asked surprised.

"Haha! Everyone knew Queen Blanca, your highness." she chuckled. "But..." she paused, "you were too young when it happened..."

Jr stared at her with a confused expression.

"When what happened?"

"There was an accident with the Queen. She unfortunately passed away... It must've been hard on your dad, losing his wife like that. And for you to not know your mother too..."

Jr stood up.

"I already have a mom! And her name's Lorelei, not Blanca!" Jr yelled before running away. The Octobomber couldn't even get a word in as he was already gone.

Jr made his way to a map. He had read about graveyards, so he searched on a map for one. Royal Burial. Maybe this Blanca would be here? Why would she be trying to replace his current mom? He was about to find out.

Lorelei, Octobob, and DJ Octavio had no lead on finding Jr. They were starting to get really worried for the little Octoling. Just when they were about to start the dome wide search, the Octobomber who was speaking to Jr prior flew in.

"Your majesty! Are you looking for the prince?!" she asked out of breath.

"Yes! Where's he at?" the king replied, with urgency in his tone.

"He was last in dome R2 with me. Before I could get him, he ran off. He was asking about the queen before he ran off..."

The king's expression dropped as soon as he heard that.

"Did you... tell him about her... Um... Passing...?" he asked somewhat softly.

She nodded.

"Yes. Not in detail, of course..." she said. "He said something about her not being his mom and that someone else was. Not sure about that... But, I did happen to see the direction he was heading. It was towards the S domes. If that helps at all..."

"Yes, that's perfect! Thanks so much! We'll take it from here." Lorelei jumped in. The Octobomber took her leave and they turned to the king.

"Should we get going, your majesty?" Octobob asked gently.

The king sighed and shook off his trance.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." he said. And with that, they made their way towards the S domes.

Jr climbed out of the kettle. The dome was decorated with panels simulating an overcast day. There were thousands of tombstones, decorated with flowers, cards, and the works. He slowly walked through the graveyard. It was eerie here. He began reading the names. Most were people who served the royal family in some way. He didn't know them, so who cared. Where could Blanca be. She must be here somewhere.

He wandered around aimlessly until he bumped into someone. The old Octoling whipped around and was about to chew him out until she saw who it was.

"Oh, your highness. What brings you to such a dreary place?" she asked gently.

"I'm looking for Blanca..." he responded softly, looking down at his feet.

"Ah... I see... Well, you of all people deserve to see her. I'll take you to her." She began leading the small Octoling. Finally, someone being honest and showing him stuff. He was ready to give this lady a piece of his mind.

Within a few minute they reached her burial. Jr looked around and he didn't see the lady in the picture.

"Where's Blanca?" Jr asked.

"She's right here, dear." she said motioning to the gravestone. It was large and surrounded by flowers, stuffed toys, and cards. Jr didn't understand.

"I don't get it... I don't see her." Jr said. The old woman sat down. Jr sat beside her.

"Has your father spoken to you about death?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"I figured as much. It can be a hard topic to talk about... Especially when it happens to someone you love..."

"What's death?" Jr asked, staring at the tombstone.

"When someone dies, their soul leaves their body and returns to the sea. Sometimes if someone's really sick or they get hurt really badly, that's what happens."

"Are they gone forever?"

"Yes and no. They leave the bodies so they're not here with their bodies. But, since their souls are free from their bodies they visit and look after us. They'll be in your hearts always."

Jr silently took that in.

"That's what happened to Blanca?" Jr asked.

The woman nodded. Some footsteps were heard. The two of them turned. It was Lorelei, Octobob, and DJ Octavio.

"Mommy!" Jr said, running over to her. She scooped him up and hugged him tightly.

"I told you not to wander off like that, young man." she scolded him, placing him back on the floor.

"Sorry, mommy. Sorry, Octobob. Sorry dad..." Jr apologized.

"It's ok, your highness. We're just glad you're not hurt." Octobob said.

Lorelei turned to DJ Octavio and motioned to Jr and the tombstone of his wife. He sighed.

"Jr, we need to have a talk about Blanca..." Lorelei patted Octobob to leave as the king and prince needed privacy. The old Octoling also went off on her way.

Finally, after all that mulling over it, DJ Octavio talked to Jr about Blanca. He talked about her death and told him it's ok if he finds it confusing. He told him that even though Lorelei isn't his mom biologically, she's still his mom because she loves and takes care of him. It was quite a bit for the young Octoling to take in, but he did it to the best of his ability. After the whole talk Jr spoke up.

"Dad?" he asked.

"Yes, Jr." the king replied

"Can I have a picture of mommy...? Blanca mommy?"

The king chuckled.

"Course you can. Let's go get you one now." He got up, as did Jr. He led the little one out of the graveyard. Seeing that the king was leaving, Jr's two caretakers followed suit. With this new knowledge surrounding his family, Jr felt a bit more aware of what was going on. He was continuing to grow as prince and as a person.


End file.
